Marathon Day for Jenn

Jenn completed her first marathon today!!!

I am so proud of her. I know there were some really hard miles, and between me, her mom, and Courtney, we managed to keep her going by popping up at different miles to urge her on. Luckily, we got some photos at different miles to commemorate the monumental event.

At mile 9, the turnaround point of the marathon and where I volunteered at the Team In Training aid station. Every time TNTers went by in their purple shirts, there were a lot of yells and "Go Team!"
Somewhere around miles 18-19, in front of the university.
At the very end of the race! Jenn's hurting a bit by now, but still has very strong spirits and is thrilled to be done!
Celebrating at the Cheesecake Factory!

Jenn, I am so proud of you and this accomplishment! I know how hard the training has been for both of us, for all of the team, so to see you at the finish line was just unbelievable!

Mark this off your list and enjoy the fact that you are a true winner!

The marathon itself... It was only about the third time in the history of this marathon that it rained. It rained almost the entire time, and I was completely drenched by 8:30 am, when my volunteer shift was over. But, I stuck around with Kelley until Jenn came through mile 9. (She was the one who took the photo from mile 9.) It was so much fun to work the aid station. We had a few mishaps of trying to hand off the cups to the runners, and some of the cups went flying, which meant that the liquid went flying as well. There were also some funny moments, like trying to mix the Gluekos (one of the hydration liquids) in a plastic-lined garbage can with a paddle and using water from a hydrant, or watching the empty cups all neatly lined up take a dive when they caught some air.

As far as my feelings about the marathon...it was inspirational. I wished so much while I was watching everyone and handing out cups of Gluekos that I had chosen this town to complete my first marathon.

However, it was a lot of fun to just watch all the runners go by and to cheer them on. It was like a party. I can only imagine all the celebrating that was going on afterwards, even if people were sore and tired.

Two more weeks until Nike...