Portland Marathon 2010

Ok. While I was puffing away on my 3 mile route, Ed and Josh were in training for their 26.2 miles this past weekend. I cannot resist a good excuse to hit the road, and my husband indulges me :) And, we were excited to cheer on another big accomplishment! This time we had all 4 in tow (count 'em, four!) The trip over seemed quick and painless, we did a little shopping at the Gap outlet and hauled all 4 kids (yes, 4!) through IKEA Saturday afternoon. Fortunately they were able to squeeze in a little nap on the way there.

I love that my kids are at the age where you can say, "Ok, everyone! Time to be quiet and take a little nap!" and for the most part everyone closes up their little eyes and drifts off. (So much nicer than the days when the baby of the family would scream his little head off for the better part of an hour, and finally collapse into a sobbing sleep, and you frantically hush the other kids to be quiet and remind them that maybe this would be a good time to catch some zzz's before the little guy wakes up again. You know what I'm talking about.)

Oh yes, and here we are, all ready to hit the pool, cause Joe saw a sign directing us to a pool, which in fact, no longer existed. Major two thumbs down.
(Instead we went to IKEA. Hee hee!)
We picked up a pizza, jumped on the bed a little, and then went down to the hotel where the rest of the family was staying.

. . .and I got some cuddle time with Henry :)

We woke up at 6 in order to make it to the race on time to see them at the first mile. But we got lost and had to settle for the 5th mile. We raced them (in our car :) to the 12th mile and then the 21st, and finally we managed to miss Josh by a minute or two at the 26th mile, but got there in time to cheer Ed on for his last block!
We got lost a lot (but now have a better grasp of the Portland area highways) and it was pouring rain, but it was an adventure! And so very exciting!

Here's Josh (the fuzzy grey one) at mile 12ish, still with a big happy smile on his face and bouncing along like it was a jog around the block.

And Ed, same mileage, still looking 100% and with enough energy to holler at us as he rounded the corner.

We had a late check-out this year (one of the advantages of living and learning) so we had time to shower and change out of our wet clothes. The kids got some veg time. It had been a very early morning.

And, of course we celebrated with burgers and a round of drinks at Red Robin! The guys were still able to walk, so that was good. And the waiters all sang to Kayte for her birthday (which was the following day.) That was a first, I think, for Kayte.

What a fun, crazy, whirlwind weekend! Man, I really wish I could run that far. It does look like fun! Good job guys!