Ron's First Marathon!

Last week my mom, stepdad, and I went to Maine with my brother to cheer him on for his first marathon. He has been running for awhile now but started training specifically for this marathon in January. By the day of the race, he had logged over 850 miles just since 1/1/16! What's 26.2 more, right?!

Checking out the marathon course during packet pick up the day before the race.

 

Race day. Let's go!

 

After we dropped Ron off at the starting line we went back to our rental house so we could watch him run by between miles 6 and 7. The 6 ladies from Boston who were watching from the driveway next to us in their housecoats and slippers chanted his name and cheered when he went by. It was pretty funny.  We moved along the course and stopped to cheer him on at miles 14, 18, and 21. Until the marathon, he had never run more than 16 miles at a time. He looked really strong every time we saw him until mile 21. He seemed to be struggling a bit, so we decided to find one more spot before the finish line to cheer him on. When we saw him again just before mile 25, he was back in his groove and looked great.

 

Rounding the corner by our place. The other runners pretended the ladies were cheering for them. :)

Between miles 6 & 7

Mile 14.

Looks like he's out for a stroll. He ran the whole route, though. All 26.2 miles. 

 

 



Coming over the hill at mile 18

 



The home stretch

His time was actually a little less than that because he didn't cross the starting line the second the race started.

Almost smiled at the finish line.



Definitely a grimace after the finish line.

 

There isn't any place around him where he could have trained outdoors and been prepared for the hilliness of the course! So. Many. Hills. And it was windy. But in true Ron fashion, he stuck with it and nailed his goal. For his first marathon, he finished in a little over 3 hours and 24 minutes and was 74th out of 859. I think that's amazing.



Congratulations hug from mom. Or maybe she was holding him up.



Post race massage

 

I was so glad I got to be a part of something that means so much to him.