Race Day!

Eleven weeks ago, Jim & Cole began their marathon training.

They worked so hard and put in some pretty grueling runs.

This past week has been especially tough for both of them.

Jim has had a bad head cold since last weekend,

and yesterday found out that he had gotten an ear infection.

Apparently sometime overnight his eardrum ruptured.

So needless to say, he was not feeling as well-prepared for today as he would have liked.

Cole has also been battling some congestion.

Our day started at 5 AM.

We needed to get an early start so that the guys could eat

well before start time.

Jim pinning on his number.

Cole was so excited.

Cole's race day game face.

Jim helped Cole get his number pinned on.

A little silliness at 5:30.

Do they look ready?

Jim's looking like he wants to go back to bed,

and Cole's looking like he's regretting shoving the whole banana in his mouth.

Stella was a great race-day partner for Mom.

She was not too sure what was going on,

but she didn't seem to mind the cold

and she seemed to enjoy watching the runners.

After a while she got into it and was even cheering them on.

We decided to sit at mile one and watch the runners come by

and then our plan was to walk to the stadium and watch them finish.

Here's Cole with Jim right behind him.

Jim's parents got in on the marathon-day action

and saw the guys at mile 5.

They decided to take a different approach to race watching

and would see the guys pass

and then get in the car and drive ahead to catch them at different spots along the course.

They saw them again at mile 6

and then between 9-10

Here are the guys between miles 9 & 10.

(Photo courtesy of John & Pat)

Stella and I waited in the stadium

getting updates from Grandpa & Grandma

and then finally, who do we see?

Here comes Cole (to the left of the flag)!

Closely followed by Jim

(below the right-hand side of the clock)

Of course he turned his head as soon as I snapped the picture.

The guys felt good about their race.

And Jim battled his illness and had a great race.

They posed for the obligatory picture

and then they were anxious to get home.

I guess they were tired.

Cole thought the medal was pretty cool

and he wore it most of the day.

The jury is still out on whether they'll be signing up next year.

Thanks everyone for all of your well-wishes and support.

Special thanks to John & Pat for the updates and for braving the chilly weather

to watch these guys run.