Last Sunday, Bill was one of thousands and thousands of runners who competed in the 2008 San Francisco Marathon. The race started around 5:30 and early mornings in San Francisco, even in the summer, are what one might call "brisk" to say the least. So Drew and I slept in a bit at the hotel with plans to catch up with Bill at Golden Gate Park and then again at the finish line. Bill's friend Andrew Doehler, one of his buddies from his time at Episcopal, lives in San Francisco and was originally supposed to run the marathon as well. Unfortunately (or actually it turns out fortunately for us), Doehler broke his foot a few months ago and was obviously sidelined for the marathon. The reason this was good news for us was that Doehler has a car and picked us up at the hotel to head down to Golden Gate Park to watch Bill and some of Doehler's other friends run. We ended up at the exit to Golden Gate Park, just as the runners were entering the famed Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. It was a great vantage point. As you can see in the first picture, we were able to see the runners as they approached the hill. We only had two false sightings of Bill before we saw the real thing. Would you believe other runners had the nerve to wear blue shirts and black hats to try to confuse me like that? When I asked Drew if he saw Daddy yet, he started saying about every runner "That's not Daddy. That's not Daddy." Fortunately, he tired of that after a few minutes. Anyway, when the real Bill did approach (see pic), he slowed for a quick hi to us and to very sarcastically say "Yeah, this was a GREAT idea."
Unfortunately Doehler had to leave our location at the park before Bill arrived in order to meet another of his friends unfamiliar with the city at the finish line. He intended to come back and pick us up, but after experiencing the mayhem near the finish line, recommended we take a bus. After some quick help from some native San Franciscans on a bus route, Drew and I were on our way. I guess I didn't need to be nervous that I wouldn't know where to get off the bus. Nearly everyone on the bus was headed to the same place we were!
We arrived at the finish line with about 15 minutes to spare before we saw Bill finish. Unfortunately, the picture I snapped wasn't the best. He's in the blue shirt, in front of the balloons. His finish time was 4 hours 50 minutes. He had hoped to run it in 4 1/2 hours or less, which he was on pace to do for the first half of the marathon. Unfortunately, the second half of the race he had some trouble with his legs cramping and had to take walking breaks more than he would have liked. He said he learned a lot about how to approach his next marathon. I think it's just an amazing accomplishment to finish and I'm so proud of him. I also think he may be crazy to want to do it again, but he has his sights on the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon in Tempe in January.
At the end of the race they pass out these thermal plastic blanket type things that are designed to keep runners' body heat in--they kind of looked like white garbage bags. But Bill said they worked.
Family shot after Bill finished.
Drew was a big fan of all the freebies they pass out at the end of the race...peanut butter, strawberry smoothies, granola. He tried it all...sometimes more than one serving!
After a short walk back to the hotel and a Subway lunch pick-up, we relaxed in the hotel for most of Sunday afternoon. Here Drew helps Bill stretch. Not long after Bill fell asleep in that very location on the floor. I woke him up after a bit to shower and get in the bed to sleep.
Details on the rest of our trip coming soon.
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