Monday, May 25, 2009

He Did It!

3:00 am, Dylan eats some peanut butter toast and a banana before we drive him to the school for the bus. He's showered and pumped.


At 8:30am, we all arrived at Mile 11, where Dylan's school team had a water site set up. Lyndsay is all aglow with pride in her brother. I have to admit it was very emotional. I kept crying with happiness for all these strangers accomplishing something so significant.


Conor tried his best to be good as we waited throughout the day for brother Dylan to pass by.

And then, we see him! That's him in the middle of the picture, approaching Mile 11!


He sees us and I think it makes him happy that we cheer the loudest.


His spirits were great. Not even sweaty yet, and very smiley.


He had to check in at the station really quickly, grab some gummy bears and a swig of water, and then head back out. It would be more than 15 miles before we see him again. Go, Dylan!


Meanwhile, we drove through downtown L.A. to where the finish line was. Crazy fast people were already crossing it. To kill some time, we went to the Denny's and shared a couple of milkshakes and some seasoned fries. It's what Dylan would have wanted.


Because he was wearing a microchip, we got texts on the cell phone that updated us on his progress as he crossed various milemarkers. We could tell his pace was slowing down, and I knew it was because of his poor knees. By the time we saw him, here at Mile 26, he was hobbling and not as smiley. He was in pain and ready to be done! He had walked the last several miles, and finished with a time of 5:54, we think.

But he kicked it up and ran across the last little bit to finish. (That's him dead center of the picture, behind the man in black's elbow.)


I'm so proud of this kid! What a champ!


This is Dylan with his running coach, Mr. Moss, who finished the marathon too, even with a stress fracture in his foot that he got around Mile 16.


So proud of our Dylan! He did it!


He tells us the gruesome details.


Look how worn out he is! And in such pain! But now he has a medal to show for his achievement, and we couldn't be prouder of him!


(And now, he's laying on my bed with ice on his swollen knees. He's already scarfed down tons of food--and a huge milkshake on the way home--and will probably go to bed very early. After all, he has to go to school tomorrow! If he can walk!)

13 comments:

isshou ni said...

congrats! What an amazing accomplishment!

Anonymous said...

Way to go Dylan! and you to Jenna, I know it was you too encouraging & supporting him with all those practices! Well done!
Sara

Annette Lyon said...

I'm simply amazed that a boy that age would set such a huge goal and then REACH it. Way to go, Dylan!

Sarah said...

Way to go, Dylan! Congratulations on finishing!

Saint Holiday said...

Amazing race
how sweet the course
that starred a prince
like Dylan!
He once was last
but now is first,
although his knees
are killin'.

Congratulations. Now, when are you doing the iron man? I love you.

The Ancient of Weeks

Abby said...

I tried to do the text alert things for him this morning to keep tabs and support from over the ocean but the website part for that wasn't working! Made me sad. Yay Dylan!!

YogaNana said...

I don't know how to do text alerts but we were thinking of him from San Francisco all day and kept coming back to look for a blog entry. Then I got busy shaving the cat ... but here it is! I'm just so proud of my oldest grandson and also proud of his supportive family.

Just take care of those knees now ...

Love,
Mom/Nana

David said...

Kudos to Dylan! That's quite an accomplishment, and we're so proud of him.

Luisa Perkins said...

Wooooohooooo! I am so very impressed with his hard work and perseverance!

Luisa Perkins said...

Just read Holiday's commment. LOVE IT.

family said...

Whoo hoo! Jeff is running another one in Sept - Tell Dylan that is an amazing feat! And he has amazing feet! GREAT JOB!

amber watt said...

what an accomplishment! I'm all teary!

Heidi said...

Cute hair cut! And how good of you to please Dylan with the fries and shakes. I would have done the same b/c I'm a pleaser like that.