Thunder Road Marathon

Chris and Randy made it!

We were proud today when they crossed the finish line of the Thunder Road marathon. This was the first marathon for both, and they've been training for several months. Steph was kind enough to drive them to the start this morning (it was about 25 degrees), and Steph, Em and I and the kids spent the morning cheering Chris and Randy from the sidelines.

Our first stop was mile 13, the halfway point. Josh enjoyed holding up the sign for Randy, as I ran out of time this morning to make a sign for Chris.

Chris and Randy lost each other early in the race. Chris rounded the corner a few minutes after Randy at the halfway point.

This was also our first encounter with some of the race's more interesting entrants, such as the running Christmas trees and two guys running in business suits. We later saw a guy running while playing the guitar--he actually finished the race! For the record, Chris and Randy finished ahead of the Christmas trees and the guitar guys. We don't think the suits finished.

We then took the trolley over to mile 19, where we had our lunch and cheered for the marathoners. Josh began yelling, "Go, hurry up!" to some of them, which we quickly asked him to change to, "You're doing great!"

Chris and Randy caught up with each other here and finished the race together.

Josh ran a short way with Chris when he passed us at mile 19.

We then walked over to the finish line and waited for the big moment.

Chris and Randy got medals and t-shirts for finishing, and we got our picture taken with Sir Purr, the mascot for the Carolina Panthers. Molly referred to Sir Purr as "Meow," and Josh called him "The Cat." He was a good sport about it.