Another pumpkin patch

We went to Oz Park's event, as we did two years ago, and it's remarkably unchanged. (But it's a cool park.)

The kids collected pumpkins, decorated them, looked at animals, and played games, and Lev got a tattoo.

More from marathon weekend

Whew! Anyone else worn out from those days?

We were busy, and not just chasing Mom around Chicago.

So let's see...

We went to the Hancock observatory twice - with Granddad and Susan and then with Grandy and cousin Jenny.


We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art with Gram and Papa on its monthly family day.


We went to Shedd Aquarium with Gram and Papa.

And there was shopping and parks and this and that.

For one reason or another (likely not a marathon), we need to do something like that again!

Yes, she did it!

(Did we mention that Mom ran a marathon?)

HOLY MOLY!

We know, we know - a lot of you were here to see it with your own eyes. And thank you, thank you, thank you for that!

But Dad just can't help saying it, over and over again.

MOM RAN A MARATHON.

MOM RAN 26.2 MILES.

MOM RAN FOR MORE THAN FIVE HOURS (5:33:01, to be official).

She must be stark raving mad - and, boy, are we proud of her! Don't know about anyone else, but Dad almost cried watching Mom make the turn from Michigan Ave. onto Roosevelt Rd. in the last mile. It was a sight to behold.

And here's a shout-out to the rest of Mom's support team out there with Dad: Levynn and Lincoln, Granddaddy and Susan, Gram and Papa, Grandy and cousin Jenny, even Chambers family friends Rick and Clare. We cheered for her - and she saw us doing it - at eight different points along the course, which has got to be some kind of record, right? That's more than Mom thought was even possible. But that's just how we roll in this family. Right?

For those of you interested in the nitty gritty, Mom placed 11,873rd among the women and 28,895th overall in the record field of 38,132.

Here are her splits:

          Time       Min/mile
05K   00:34:18   11:02
10K   01:12:32   12:19
15K   01:49:11   11:48
20K   02:27:44   12:25
25K   03:09:31   13:20
30K   03:52:15   13:45
35K   04:33:50   13:23
40K   05:15:22   13:22
Fin   05:33:01   12:56

Amazingly, three weeks after she fizzled over the last three miles or so of a 20-mile prep race, she sped up late in this race. And she looked and sounded remarkably good when we first saw her about 45 minutes after she finished.

Honestly, though, that last word - "finished" - is all that matters. She finished. Yes, she did it!

Here are some choice photos from the day (many courtesy of Gram, Grandy and Susan - thanks!).

She did it! She did it!

By jove, she did it!

Yes, Mom finished the 2010 Bank of America Chicago Marathon today!

Her official time is 5 hours, 33 minutes, 1 second.

We'll have to leave you with that for now. It's a busy time here! But we'll come back to this soon.

Thanks for all the support!

Marathon weekend, Day 1!

We welcomed our first out-of-towners, Granddaddy and Susan, just last night
and already had them working first thing this morning as we transformed the kids' bedroom - an odd task for this weekend, admittedly.

But Lincoln has been ready for a big boy bed, and we had asked Granddaddy to haul Dad's old twin bed back from storage in Tennessee. So there was no time like the present.





And there it is.

Now that we had that done, Mom was ready to go to the Chicago Marathon Health & Fitness Expo at McCormick Place to get her official race gear. Granddaddy and Susan accompanied her, and they stopped at Nike Town on Michigan Ave. to see this:

What is that, you ask? It's a window display, listing the names of every registered marathon participant.

See Mom's in the closeup?

Awesome baby!

Pumpkin picking

Dad and Levynn went to Lincoln Park Zoo today for its Harvest Days fall festival.



(Note to self: Don't expect anything more than a pumpkin patch if we go again next year.)

Museum-hopping, Day 4

Mom and the kids did get to the Children's Museum today while Dad attended Northwestern's football game.

This is in the new exhibit, Mexico: Festival of Toys.

Museum-hopping, Day 3

Dad and Lincoln went to The Field Museum today, which, as we've mentioned before, is gargantuan and seemingly impossible to navigate in a single day.

We stuck with our past stops, the big draws that would interest Lincoln. Like the life-size dinosaur, pueblo and pyramid replicas.

We may get back to Shedd Aquarium yet, too, perhaps with Levynn on an off-day. And Mom may take the kids back to the Children's Museum with a library pass Saturday, while Dad's at a Northwestern football game.

Still smiling

More than 24 hours after the 20-miler, Mom's still sore. But you can see she's doing OK.

We went to the Hancock Observatory this afternoon, our first visit since we got a great deal on annual passes for the four of us. We can go whenever we want for the next 365 days!

After dinner, Mom got some tender care from the kiddos for her blister.

Run MK Run

In case you missed it - over at Run MK Run - Mom ran a 20-mile prep race today, just three weeks before the marathon for which she's been training since last year.

Yes, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon is three weeks from today - 10-10-10 - and Mom will be ready for it.

After all, the Chicago Area Runners Association didn't call today's race the Ready to Run 20 Miler for nothing. Finish that, and you're ready for 26.2.

So did Mom finish? Heck yeah, she finished! And she did better than that, in our estimation. She got through the 20 miles in about three hours, 48 minutes - well ahead of her target of four hours.

She can see the light now!

There were very few spectators along the course, which followed the lakefront trail almost the entire way. But Mom wanted some. So Dad and the kids bused around to cheer for her in the fifth and 12th miles. And you can imagine the kids were as excited to see her come into view as she was to see them.




As you may notice, it was a beautiful morning. And, as you can see below (alongside Shedd Aquarium), the course offered some beautiful views.

But Mom was the sight to see today.