The Schmitz Spotlight: 1/17/10

Sunday was a good day! The sun was shining, the birds were singing and it was cool, but not too cold, outside.

It was the day of the Houston Marathon. 26,000 runners arrived downtown to try their hat at running. There were 5k runners, Half Marathoners, Wheelchair participants and approx. 9,000 Full Marathoners.

The gun went off at 7:00am for the first wave of runners to begin their 26.2 mile trek through the streets of Houston. At 7:10am the second wave began. In this wave were a pair of siblings, Brian & Suzanne. They had always wanted to run a marathon and after six and a half months of training they had begun the challenge. They ran together, strong, and determined.

Just past mile marker 13, they had their first support stop. I was waiting with the girls to encourage them and give them pretzels, Gu, water, etc... They looked great. Smiling, excited and ready to battle through the second half of the race. Suzanne left first and after Sophie jumped up and down with her sign yelling "Go Daddy Go!" Brian left as well.

They continued running and stopped again at their second support station where Devon, Jack, Kate, Ann, and Sue were waiting with refreshments, love and signs just before mile 16.

The girls and I decided to stop again in a beautiful Houston neighborhood almost to the 18 mile marker. We had to hurry and thought we might miss them. This was an unscheduled stop, so if we didn't hurry, they might not see us. I jogged with the girls in the stroller down the street to a good vantage point and we waited. In a few minutes we saw Brian jogging toward us. Sophie ran out to the edge of the street with her sign and began her cheering.

(Notice Sophie's cute little sign. In the bottom right hand corner she drew a map of the course so that daddy would know exactly where to go.)

We waited a few minutes for Suzanne, but didn't see her, so headed back to the car.

As the siblings continued to run they grew fatigued. Very. Fatigued. As they ran through Memorial Park they kept hoping to see Devon and the crew at their final support stop. They knew he would be there somewhere between mile 20 and 23. As each mile passed and they didn't see them, they grew more weary. But, at mile 23, smiling, loving faces greeted them with more Shot Bloks, pretzels, water, etc... Then they faced the daunting final three miles.

At this point Brian is running ahead of Suzanne, but they are both determined to succeed. Running in the memory of their father who lost his battle with cancer in 2003 and for their mom whose cancer has just come back, they will not be denied this victory!

Brian began cramping. First his hamstring. Then his quad, on the same leg. Would he be able to finish? He stretched. He walked. He ran. He stretched. And so forth... During the last 100 yards...he tried to pick up speed.

Sophie and I were screaming for him as he approached the finish line. The spectators around us joined in. Focused on the finish, he ran across! He finished in 4 hours and 15 min.