Trails to You

On the Saturday following Thanksgiving, the kids and I accompanied Joe and our good friend, Dan, to the Northern Central Trail Marathon in Sparks, Maryland.  A quiet and rather beautiful part of Maryland.  We really should get out to these quiet, beautiful places more often, it makes me appreciate Maryland a lot more.

The Marathon was an out and back trail marathon, run mostly on the Northern Central Railroad Trail.  Our friend, Mr. Dan, is a FAST runner.  In fact, the first time we saw him, he was in third place and the second time we saw him, he was running in first place.

Joe's running times usually put him squarely in the middle of the pack, which, coincidentally is well matched to the speed of a momma lugging around four little kids trying to see runners.  You'll see Xandra's gloved hands in the above picture.  Whenever we see Joe, the girls are always ready with bandaids and ibuprofen.  Joe usually doesn't need them, but they sure enjoying being ready to help daddy out.  At this stop we got a kiss and hug from our favorite runner as he zoomed through mile 11.

It's very exciting watching a race in which you know someone who is actually in contention to win the race. 

Unfortunately, while Mr. Dan's time was SUPER fast (under 2 hours, 40 minutes) and would have been fast enough to win the race any of the last five years, he lost to a semi-professional marathon runner on the day in question.  He finished well in second place with a good time, however, and we enjoyed seeing him cross the line.

The girls thought the best part of having Dan cross the finish line was that they inherited his foil warming blanket.  This provided lots of entertainment on a cold, windy day.  Dan thought the best part of crossing the finish line was that he could stop running.

Any hour later when Joe crossed the line, I'm pretty sure he agreed with Dan.  Joe finished the race with a personal best, 03:51:32 (an 8:51 pace).  Impressive for a man who was unable to complete some of the last weeks of training due to an injury. 

After a resting period inside the warm elementary school where the race was hosted,

and some more fun with the foil blankets, we watched Mr. Dan get his trophy.

Mr. Dan, while disappointed to not finish first, still got excited about his trophy (okay, not really, but we made him smile, anyway).

The highlight for the girls, aside from the foil warming blanket, was this fun playground right outside the elementary school.

They also liked our visit to Chick-fil-A on the way home, compliments of Mr. Dan.

Joey's highlight was wearing daddy's medal and Trisha's highlight is a tie between watching Joe finish the race and resting at home the rest of the day.  On race days, it's always a joke as to who's more tired at the end, Joe who ran the marathon, or Trisha, who just felt like she did, from corralling the many small children to and from finish lines, water stops, bathroom breaks, car seats, and strollers.

Congratulations on a personal best 26.2 miles Joe!