Duane's First Marathon

Duane decided several months ago that he wanted to run a marathon and I had no doubt in my mind that he could. He decided to do the Airforce Marathon. So he started going for long runs on Saturday mornings with a group that meets up at a runners supply store called Up and Running. It two minutes from our house. When I say long runs, we're talking 15 plus miles. He's met some great people through the running group. This was in addition to some short run around 6 miles during the week at work. To me 6 miles is a long run! But not to the energizer bunny:) As the day of the run got closer, I felt myself getting more and more nervous. You would have thought that I was running the race! That week the girls and I made a big banner and some signs. Duane and I did our best to figure out a good spot to watch for him. The girls and I along with Aunt Susan who came for a visit piled in the car and headed towards the Nutter Center. A luck would have it, I missed the turn for the Nutter Center parking lot and we ended up finding an awesome place to set up camp. We parked in a near by neighborhood, then made a 5 minute walk at the end of an off ramp where the runners were exciting the highway. I was so worried that we missed him, but I kept my fingers crossed. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later he came in to view. I can not put to word the proud that I felt in my heart for Duane at that moment. I almost burst into tears. At that point he had already run 22 miles and I was so glad that we were there to cheer him on and give him a boost for the last 4 miles. We all yelled and cheered as loud as we could as we waved our signs. What a moment for our family! I'll never forget it! But the moment didn't last because we had our own race to run. While Duane was finishing up his last four mile, we ran back to the car, loaded up, drove to the Air Force Museum, got on a shuttle bus and made it to the finish line, literally with in two minutes of Duane crossing the finish line. I was amazed that we made it were able to see the end of his race. He was clearly exhausted, but was standing on two feet. He finished the run in just over 4 hours. Of course he wished he could have done it under 4 hours. That;s just crazy talk to me! That is outstanding for a first time marathon runner! When he got home we had a finish line waiting for him to cross as he pulled his car into the garage. I guess you can say that lots of people run a marathon. But it's all the more special that Duane was able to train and never sacrifice his time with his family. I'm so proud of him and so glad that we could all be a part of such a special day for him. He continues to be an inspiration to me and such a wonderful example to his daughters.