Thunder Road Marathon...

A dear friend of mine came over at 6am this morning to watch the girls, so that Steven, Chris, and I could go out into the 26 degree morning and watch Steven run a marathon. The Thunder Road Marathon is a brutal up and down hill race through most of uptown Charlotte and on this particular day it was a race run in freezing temperatures, as if running 26.2 miles isn't hard enough on a nice day. But for Steven it could have been 0 degrees and snowing. He was going to finish this race. It was ironic that it started and finished in front of his old firm. You know, the firm that essentially turned our world upside down this year. This has been a rough year. So Steven ran off the year. And he did it well. The temperatures had risen to 32 degrees when they all started at 7:45am. At the half way point he was still smiling. At mile 18 he was still going strong. At mile 23 wonderful friends jumped in to run the last stretch with him, to push him to finish strong. And at mile 26.2 he came in triumphantly under 4 hours at 3 hours and 53 minutes. I cried when he crossed the finish line. I felt it in my heart. The purifying release that comes from running 26.2 miles. Steven felt it everywhere else. He ran hard. He gave it all that he had. I'm so proud of him. And I have a feeling that this is not his last long run.