The Marathon

Since Spenser has been running crazy distances for a long time he decided that he should finally run a marathon. He had hoped to run one in Issaquah back in October, but had started to have some foot pain. After spending hours searching for a Saturday race, he finally decided on the Santa run which was only a 15 minute drive from the house. I wasn't keen on the idea, since I thought that he would end up injuring himself, but he's old enough to make his own decisions!

The weather was pretty cold and rainy and as he left the house I prayed that it wouldn't rain the whole time that he was running. It did clear up for a while, but when I went out to run errands before we drove down to the finish line the weather was pretty brutal and I was worried. He gave me a short call at mile 15 to tell me that he was feeling good and on pace to run his 4 hour time.

Running it in

Thomas ran to the finish line with dad

We all piled into the car to see him at the finish line. I managed to miss my exit and had to turn around, which ended being an 8 mile diversion. I was so worried that we had missed him and when we pulled up the clock was just around 4 hours. We couldn't see Spenser anywhere and I had Devin go inside and check the bathrooms, but there was no sign of him. We waited and waited and the runners started to trickle in. I asked a couple of times if Spenser had come in, but the event didn't seem terribly organized. I finally went over and asked if they had someone patrolling the course to check if the runners were OK. They told me 'no' and I was just about ready to get into the car and drive myself when Katrina shouted that she thought she saw him. As he ran up he stopped for a minute and I gave him a 'Come on Spenser!' and he started up again. As he ran by he reported that he had started cramping up at around 16 miles. The weather was just too wet and cold and he hadn't worn enough layers for the conditions. I felt bad because I knew he was disappointed with his time. I just thought that running 26 miles was pretty cool (well it was more like 27 since he dropped his phone and had to run back and find that!).

The pain on his face is pretty evident! The course actually crossed the finish line 4 times which I think was quite a killer. He said that if we had been there the last time he went by he would have had Devin run it with him. I know that Devin was glad that we weren't there, but I think I could have even made it with my sciatic pain since Spenser was struggling so bad!

As he climbed into the car I asked him if he would ever do another one. I already knew the answer. "Well I can't have that be my only marathon!" That's OK. Just pick something in the Spring or Summer!

As we drove home Thomas told Katrina, "The worst thing that I have ever smelt is my dad!" It was a pretty stinky drive back with the windows down!