Play date

Hard to believe that Jax used to be Sylvie's sworn frenemy. Now they are the best of buds. Melissa sure knows how to put on a play date. Chocolate chip cookies!

Marathon photos

This outfit called Marathonfoto takes action shots along the way of all the runners. Literally. I cannot imagine the logistics that go into that--or how they so quickly matched my bib number to these shots and got them emailed out to me. Pretty pleased with some of them. You can definitely tell in which ones I was aware of the photographer--I wasn't nearly so happy as I look toward the end, with the exception of the home stretch and finish line shots!

I was feeling pretty cocky in Natick, around the 10 mile mark.

Excited to have this shot with the iconic Citgo sign!

This smile is for real. The crowd was telling us we had one more mile to go.

Turning the corner into the home stretch down Boylston Street. What a feeling.

Crossing the finish line.

10 years later

Fun dinner out to pre-celebrate our 10th anniversary. The real celebration comes next month in Italy!

Elephant.

Her annoyance at our assumption that Sylvie traced this was palpable. She looked at a picture in a book while she drew it. 

10 years ago today...

Hard to believe!

Made it!

3:54.  I'll take that!

I cannot say it was easy. I was cruising along at a remarkably-consistent 8:30/mile pace when at the 18 mile mark or thereabouts the quads in both my legs started twitching in an ominous, "we're thinking about cramping and putting you on your face in the middle of the road" kind of way. That was as close as I came to panic, wondering if my stems were going to quit on me. So I slowed it down considerably for a mile or two, drank a bunch of Gatorade and dumped a bunch of water on my head, and by mile 21 I was cruising again. The rest wasn't cake, exactly, but I was over the hump. What an experience! The crowds were incredible. Obviously I don't have anything to compare to, but post-race commentary suggested that Boston was out in strength. There wasn't a stretch without screaming people egging us on--and I saw a number of familiar faces along the way. Awesome feeling. The weather was warmer than expected - over 70 by race end. Again, though, I didn't have anything to compare it to! Got a nice little sunburn, but otherwise it worked out fine.

A few scenes from race day:

Anyone know where a guy could take a leak?

My outfit at the start:

 My outfit at the end!

My two biggest fans - huge thanks to Melissa for toughing out a hard day of logistical challenges to be there for me. Seeing the two of them at the 17 mile mark got me through the rest of the race! This is them crammed like sardines into a T car, racing to get to the aforementioned 17-mile mark! Note the strange man's buttocks using Sylvie's head as a resting place!

And here they are greeting me at the family meet-up post-race. Sylvie is very taken with my medal. She thought it meant I won the whole thing.

The long-awaited post-race beer.

The head of my cheering section

Off to the races!!!

Marathon finish line live stream

I have no idea whether or how well this works, but I'm told there will be a live stream tomorrow of the finish at this link: http://watchlive.baa.org/  If I maintain the pace I'm hoping for I should get there between 2:45 and 3 or so. Hoping to be wearing a smile in addition to this shirt and sunglasses, a pair of black shorts, and black compression sleeves on my calves. Not at all sure to what extent, if at all, that will set me apart from the field!

As for tonight, I'm having just one. Feel like it would be bad luck not to. And it's carbs!! 

Easter Sunday Hike

Doesn't get nicer!

Happy Easter!

The bunny came, we egg-hunted, and Sylvie is deep into a seemingly-endless store of jellybeans... all before 8:00 AM.  

Happy Easter Everyone!!

"How Families Happen..."

This morning Sylvie produced a comic strip of sorts, explaining her conception of "how families happen." The narrative is pretty much hers, verbatim:

At the Marathon Expo

First thing first: anyone who might like to track my progress on Monday can do so by downloading the Boston Marathon app ("BAA Marathon" in the app store). I'm bib number 26131, setting out from the start at approximately 11:00 AM.

Pretty cool to be on the window at Fiske's after 41 years of life...

Today my girls and I went to the Marathon Expo, a huge event in Boston where, among other things, we runners pick up our bib numbers and other assorted race stuff. It was a zoo, but we had a blast. Amazing how many people are involved in this thing.

This is Syl pinning up my name on the "Living Proof" board. That was a poignant moment for her dad.

After checking in and looking around we went to an old favorite of Melissa's and mine: Giacomo's in the South End. I could get used to this carbo loading routine...

Syl had Salmon... NOT from the kids' menu!

Finally, we strolled on over to the finish line: hopefully not the last time we'll see that this weekend!

Pretty amazed that this thing is almost here! All over but the running!! And by "all over," I also mean my fundraising. Thanks to my amazing family and friends, I exceeded my $13,000 goal! Thank you all. Now I REALLY have to run!