PORTLAND MARATHON - 10-4-09

Today my husband ran the Portland Marathon. This was his 3rd Portland Marathon and 5th total. I took the boys, my mom, and grandma downtown to watch Darin run the final stretch of the race. It was SO fun to see all the runners come by. I am always just blown away to know that every person that passed me had completed 26.2 miles!! It is truly a great accomplishment.

Darin finished in 4 hours and 13 seconds!!!! I am SO proud of him. It was a hard run for somebody that signed up at the last minute and his longest run was 16 miles a week before the big day. My husband has a lot of determination and strength and I was so glad that we were there to cheer him on for the final stretch!!! Good job, Babe, I love you!!!!!!

As you watch the finish of a marathon you see so many things. You watch as runners achieve their ultimate goal of finishing the race. Some runners give all they have left for that final sprint, other runners are injured, yet still putting one foot in front of the other to hit that finish line. There were the defeated runners that just couldn't run anymore due to injury or just didn't have anything left. To see runners holding hamsting muscles and sides that were all cramped up yet still moving was inspiring. There was a runner who had his arms hanging on two other runners shoulders, one on each side, to simply keep him in the upright position so he could finish the race. He must have gotten injured because he was in the 3hr 40 minute pack of runners. This was very moving for me to watch. Standing on the sidelines cheering was a lot of fun and to see the smiles and tears of those that had accomplished their goal was amazing.

I love this one. The little hand in the left corner is Luke waving at his dad. He was So excited to see him!

Darin is in the blue shorts.

Going into the turn for the very last stretch.