This has nothing to do with sheep or weaving or anything about my business, but it's how I spent Sunday. The Sacramento International Marathon was Sunday and 4 family members ran (along with 6000 other people).
Sometime last August, my 17 year old son, Chris said that he wanted to run in the marathon. My husband, Dan, said that he'd train with him, to a point. When my husband's brother from Colorado said he'd come out for the race, Dan decided to enter too. That's 3 family members in. Then my 28 year old son, Matt, decided to run.
A marathon is not something to be taken lightly. It's 26.2 miles! Rob has been training for marathons and Ironman length triathlons for years--no problem for him. Dan and Chris have been running, but had to work up to this distance. Matt is in good shape from his Forest Service firefighting job, but had run only a couple of 10-K's in training. All of them finished well and close to the times they anticipated. Don't think it's easy. None of them were walking too well when it was over. Matt sent me a photo Sunday evening of him sitting in the recliner with ice packs on his knees and ankles. Dan spent the rest of the day in the recliner and Chris slept. This is Tuesday and they are still having difficulty going up and down stairs. But they say they'll do it again!
Matt (in gray) almost at the finish line
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What about the support crew and photographer (other family members & me)? We got up at 4:30 along with the runners, dropped them at the start, drove to the first pre-arranged viewing point (5 miles). That was one way the runners could get rid of a layer of clothing--toss it to the pit crew along the side of the road. The runners pass and then the pit crew piles back in the Explore and heads along city streets to the next spot--13 miles. At this point our runners are spread out--Rob is on a 3:10 pace and Dan is aiming for 4:30--the boys are in between at about a 4:00 pace. That means that after staying to see Dan we have to hurry to the finish area to catch Rob come across the finish line.
The weather can be an issue for this January race. It could have been worse--at least it wasn't raining or windy. But the fog was thick. The temperature at 7 a.m. when the race began was 39. It stayed in the low 40's all morning. We of the support crew were very glad to get back in the car in between viewing points!
