Isaac's First Marathon

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. It's been a little crazy around the Johnson household. But we've had a good start to fall.

Isaac ran his first marathon on Halloween. He completed the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC in under 5 hours with a very bad cold. In fact, I wasn't even sure he was going to run on Sunday till he woke up that morning and put on his running shoes! He did so well, and my niece Haley and I really enjoyed chasing him around the city to see him at different points in the race. Here he is at mile 17. At this point in the race, he was running along the National Mall. We were almost beside the National Monument here.


My sister Kathleen was generous enough to keep Mark for me while I went into DC to cheer Isaac on. With all the traffic we had on Saturday, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the stroller on the metro. Saturday was the rally with John Stewart and Stephen Colbert and the metro was completely packed! We waited in line for 30 minutes just to purchase a metro ticket. Oh well. We enjoyed seeing all the signs people made. It turned out the metro was just fine on Sunday. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

Haley and I probably walked 6 miles on Sunday following Isaac around the course. We saw him at mile 17, mile 20, and then again at the finish. The marathon ends in Arlington National Cemetery at the Iwo Jima monument. The finish is on a very steep hill, and it was absolutely unbelievable to see all the people finishing. I ran this marathon in 2006 but honestly can't remember much about the finish except that I was REALLY REALLY glad to be done. : )

I am so proud of Isaac's accomplishment! He got a really nice race shirt and medal. Here is a picture of Isaac at the finish line. We were separated by a huge fence to keep the racers separate from the crowd.


And here is a picture of Haley, Isaac, and me after we linked up after the race.

Haley will turn 12 years old in January! I can hardly believe it! It was so nice to spend time with Haley this past weekend. She came with us into the city on Saturday to pick up Isaac's race packet too. So we got to spend some really good time together. She is such a sweet girl, and is training for a 5k race with Girls on the Run in December. How awesome is that!?

I want to post more pictures from the weekend, but for now I'll leave you with a very sweet picture of Mark with Isaac. This was taken at Kathleen's house in Burke, Va. I LOVE this picture!!!