Marathon Weekend

This was quite the Marathon weekend for our family, literally. We were going down to see our friend Stacie run in the Portland Marathon on Sunday. But it all began at 4:30 Saturday morning when Jesse and I had to get up and go to work for NSP in Everett. The cold and wet only made dealing with the hundreds of kids all the more fun, but at least we had the rest of the weekend to look forward to. When we got home there was a quick pack job and then we were off in the other direction, towards Portland. We stopped to pick up my friend Heidi and then our road trip was on! I drove, scary, and Heidi and I chatted while Peyton and Jesse played on their computers in the back (ok Jesse was doing homework.) The trip was broken up by a stop at Jesse's brother's where we spent the night. After chatting with his family for a while we three got the munchies so it was off to Albertson's for some Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice cream, Oreo's, Donut Holes, and Pringles. What a combo! We tried snapping some photos in the store for fun but eventually got in trouble by a clerk, apparently we looked like spies. After our pig out session we all crashed out in the living room. It was a lot of fun!

Sunday didn't start as early as we feared it would, the race started at 7:00 but we decided not to be there for the start. However, Heidi forgot to turn off her alarm so we did get woken up at 6:00, thanks! Still love ya though. Lonny made us a nice breakfast and we got to do a little visiting and then we were off to the races. We didn't get down there quite as early as we would have liked but luckily we were able to intercept Stacie once on the course and see her amongst the huge crowds. The sheer amount of people that run in the race amazes me. The fact that anyone can do it amazes me! She looked wet and a little tired, but overall pretty good, still smiling. After that we couldn't see her till the finish line so we headed that way. Jason, her husband, led the way, got us a little lost, but eventually got us there. It was drizzling and crowded but pretty exciting. The streets were a buzz with finishers and their families. And everywhere you looked there was space blankets. Two hours later we had our perfect spot and our cameras ready, just waiting for Stacie. We finally spotted her and it was so exciting. Can't even imagine what it was like for her to see the finish line. Unfortunately, Jesse had just taken Peyton on a little walk so he missed her finish, I felt really bad.

We met up with her after and some of her friends and then we all decided to go and get something to eat...we were starving, especially Jason (Stacie's husband.) Peyton was getting cranky, it had been a long day for him, but the call of food was too strong so we decided to tough it out and go with everyone. We ended up being really glad we did, Peyton didn't do too bad, and we all had fun at the Old Spaghetti Factory. After we just went home, we had originally planned to do some other stuff but it was just too late and we were too tired. It was a great weekend though and we are glad we went. It was awesome to see someone accomplish such a huge goal and I am so proud of her. Good job Stacie!