Yep, Marathon Man at 55

Yes, he did it, ran all 26.2 miles. The photo on the left is of the last few feet before the finish line. They came in along the Missouri River. The photo on the right was taken by our friends, the Happy Wanderers, along about mile 18 or so. See, he's even smiling. He said it wasn't bad until the last four miles or so. By then he was tired, it was HOT and the hot wind was blowing against him. He looked good coming in to the end, though. And he's feeling very pleased that he was able to run the whole thing. He did it in 5 hours. He averaged about 5.4 miles/hour, and kept a steady pace through the whole "race". He got water frequently and "ate" these gel packs filled with nutrients to keep him energized. (Chuck said, "speed"!) Chuck and Judy met him a couple of times along the course while Andrew and I were still in church and sprayed him and gave him water. Check out Chuck's blog for their view. Andrew went up the course a ways after we got there and saw Den as he came around the last curve. They were out of my view, but he ran along with him a little way and got Den psyched up for that last 500 yards or so. The marathon people gave him a device to attach to his shoe that kept track of his time. You can go to the marathon site and type in his name and number 271 for more info. I don't think they have the pictures uploaded yet. He has a gps gizmo he wears like a watch that tracks his route, his pace and number of calories burned. He loads the information into the computer, and it comes out on a graph. He also keeps track of every time he runs, and then compares them. It's a fun toy for him. What's next? You'll have to ask him. He talked to Charysse yesterday. They could speak each other's language. They may run together sometime. Well, at least in the same race. She runs the Chicago marathon on October 7th. She was his inspiration at our family reunion!

It was also his 55th birthday, so we had a celebration with 8 of our friends from church. It was a gorgeous evening, so we sat out by the pool, which we haven't closed yet, ate finger food, drank wine and had birthday cake and coffee. This picture was taken when he opened this really funny birthday card. Isn't his expression priceless?!