My Dad, The Marathoner

This weekend was ridiculously busy, driving over a thousand miles in less than 2 1/2 days! We began by making our way down to Richmond, Virginia to support my Dad who was running his first marathon.

After a lovely drive through the scenic byway of Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, we met up with my brother Jeffrey (who is in school at VCU) and my parents for some carbo-loading at the Olive Garden in the former capital of the South!  

Then we were off to drinks with my college roommate, Courtney, whom we were staying with for the night. Miss you lady!

Saturday was the big race day. Dad was ready to go after months of training.

Once he was off, we drove all over the city to be at as many spectator locations as possible to cheer Dad on! I made all the signs with the help of both Courtney and Jared, thanks guys!

(Story behind my sign... When I would think I couldn't accomplish something Dad would tell me about Bela Karoli and Mary Lou Retton and say "You can do it Mary Lou!" I knew he would get a kick out of the sign and hopefully it would help him keep running.)

At 4:20:18 Dad finished his first marathon. And we are all so proud of him!

It is amazing to see the mind over body in action. Watching people run a marathon really shows that you can do most anything you put your mind to. My Dad is amazing! I love him so much and am so proud of him.... but lets not keep running any more of these. It was a little scary to see how fragile the body is after pushing so close to the limit. How about just some half marathons?

Well, since Dad was so speedy, Jared and I had just enough time to jump in the car and head down to Carolina to catch the Hokies play one last time (in person) this season.

After another great Hokie win, we headed over to The Land of Syd and Ben for the night. Laura is one of my oldest friends and I hadn't seen her since last Christmas, it had been way too long.

One of the hardest things about living far far away in the Midwest is it makes it tough to see everyone when I would like. Eight months ago, Laura had her second child, a baby boy, and I hadn't met him yet. :(

We had dinner then stayed up late catching up and drinking wine. Not many pictures were taken, since we were busy talking non-stop. But we did get a good one of our "niece" Syd and "nephew" Ben. So happy for you Lo!   

By the time we got home on Sunday, I was exhausted! Can you imagine how my Dad feels?