From: "jb970@aol.com"
To: orfeo1776@yahoo.com; SearsM@chc.edu; bikerbenn@aol.com; zhsears@gmail.com; malaga1997@yahoo.com; justinessears@yahoo.com; mtb8u@virginia.edu; lydmorley@hotmail.com; RANDIKAMINE@aol.com; HSEARS@AUDIOCARE.COM; aaronkeech@yahoo.com; sophie.quinnjudge@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 10:11 PM
Subject: Fwd: Marathon photos
Hello Sears Family,
The past weekend was a total success! It really flew by. Ben, Hopper, Randi & I flew out to Minneapolis St Paul to see Lydia, Roger, Andrew & Peter.
We had brilliant running weather. MSP was beautiful in the fall. We all stayed at Lydia's house which was accomodating and cozy.
Lydia picked me up on Friday afternoon at the airport. We drove around the Mississippi River and the end of the Twin Cities Marathon course at which time I discovered the last 7 miles are essentially uphill. Then we went to see the St Paul Academy Spartans football team play a Friday game in which their best player Pete Morley could not play because of a broken shoulder. After the game we went to see Roger's son, Will Cruzen, play guitar at his high school's talent show case. He was great!
The next day Hop & Randi arrived followed by Benner. We all watched Ryan Howard accidently hit a 3 run homer as the Phillies beat the cardinals to take 1-0 lead in the playoffs that afternoon. Saturday night we all went to Davanni's for a pizza dinner. I spent the night w/ friends of Lydia nearby who gave me a private wing of their mansion to be sure I would rest peacefully before the big race on Sunday morning.
Randi's 10 mile race started at 7 a.m. w/ over 7,500 people running. Randi ran a phenomenal race at 1:39:31 and passed 333 runners in the last 5 miles and finished fourth in her age group.
For Randi's race results go to www.mtecresults.com and put in Randi Kamine and they'll come right up.
The marathon started at 8:00 a.m. with 8,500 runners. The conditions were perfect in the low 40's to start.
The race was an epic experience especially from mile 16 on where I picked up bananas and oranges from Lydia and Roger, Dad, Hop & Randi. at mile 19 the hills started and did end until the finish line. They would rise to a plateau and then rise again for 7 miles and I was already exhausted from starting out too fast. The crowds were great the whole length of the course. I just tried to keep putting one foot in front of the other and making sure to lift my knees w/ each step.
The road was littered w/ human carnage. I pushed through and finally finished in 3:38:55. I was glad to see in the results afterward that no matter how slow I felt I was going that I was improving my position every 5-10 kilometers in my age group and the field as a whole. For my race results go to www.mtecresults.com
and put in bib #1882.
The weekend was a complete success! This race is actually a precursor to Philadelphia on November 20 where Justine & I will run the marathon and Zack will be running the half marathon. We would truly appreciate your
support of Team Germantown!
Special thanks to Roger! We love having you a part of our family!
Love to all!
Josh