On Sunday Amy and my brother-in-law Al ran and finished the Detroit Free Press Marathon in downtown Detroit. For those of you that don't know, that's 26.2 miles (or as we found out on our way down there, the distance from our apartment in Ann Arbor to Melvindale). And for a bit of history, the first guy to run that distance was named Pheidippides. He ran from the plain of Marathon to Athens to tell of the Greek army's victory over the Persian army. Then he died.
So armed with that knowledge we headed to the Ren Cen Saturday night to meet with the other people running for Team in Training. Team in Training is a group that supports the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society and Amy was able to raise more than $1,300 prior to the marathon. In all, 191 runners raised $350,000 for the society. See her blog for more on who she was running for and his story.
There was a pasta dinner that night at the hotel and we headed to bed early. Ok, so we watched the Pistons first, but still asleep by 11, we were after all getting up at 5:40 a.m.
The alarm came early, but Amy was really fired up when we got up. She had been training for this for months, and faced lots of setbacks (couple of illnesses, a broken foot, etc.) that limited her in how much she could train. She had never ran more than 13 miles prior to Sunday. Heading into the day, she wasn't even sure she how much she could run. She was determined to finish, however.
Fast forward a bit to 7:30 a.m. outside of Comerica Park. The horn sounded and 13,000 people ran past me as I waited to see Al and Amy run by. About 12 minutes after the official "start" here they came (the MC of the race was kind enough to note that by the time Amy and Al went by the start line, the lead pack was already at mile 2).
For those of you who have watched cross country races before, being a spectator for a distance race is somewhat of a challenge. But I was amazed how much fun I had wandering around downtown trying to find Amy and Al. I was able to see them four times in the first 14 miles. The course took them away from downtown to Old Tiger Stadium and Corktown, over the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor, through the tunnel back into the US (the only underwater marathon in the world), back up toward Ford Field, then away from downtown again to Belle Isle, around Belle Isle and back to the finish through the tunnel and onto the turf at Ford Field.
Amy finished in just over five hours and was able to run the entire 26.2 miles. Al came in about 20 minutes later. Both of them were running in their first marathons and both finished, an amazing accomplishment. Special thanks from Amy to my sister and her kids Matt and Jacob who staked out the Belle Isle bridge to watch from. They made a flag with a pig and a cross on it (see her blog for more race photos and some random pics of Jennifer Garner running). They got to see their dad and Amy at miles 17 and 20, and Amy has remarked that seeing them twice made it possible for her to finish.
She was amazingly sore, still is. But I couldn't be more proud of her. She's taking the soreness like a trooper, with a little help from me. For all those who called with encouragement, prayed, donated, thought of her on Sunday, or helped in any way, I want to say thank you. Amy is so thankful to have friends and family like you around her. Al especially, having someone to train with, complain about soreness with, and run with made this such a more rewarding experience for her. You guys are the best.
2 comments:
you are so sweet (: love you,
amy
you guys are so cute!
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