Run!

last sunday andrew woke up at 3 o'clock in the morning, ate breakfast, put on some running shoes, grabbed a cab, and drove down to the ferry building.  then he ran 26.2 miles.  consecutively.  in four hours.  he is barking mad and i couldn't be more proud of him.

andrew is one of those people who sees or hears about heartbreaking events on the news and actually, like, gets inspired to do something about it.  what's up with that?  so it wasn't a surprise to me at all when, after the boston marathon bombings in april, andrew decided that he was going to run a marathon for the first time in eight years.  and wouldn't you know it, but this great city of ours hosts a marathon every summer.

the sf marathon started at 5:45 in the morning and looped around the entire northern half of the city.  my body just wasn't capable of joining andrew at the start line (being this fabulous takes enough energy as it is), but i did manage to be his surprise cheerleader when he ran through haight street, so that has to count for something, right?  ok, i might have been sipping leisurely on a latte and nibbling on a pastry as he ran by, but still...

andrew at mile 19 coming in for a congratulatory kiss.

i think now is a good time to apologize for the horrible quality of all of these photos.  i was taking them while flailing my arms about and jumping up and down shouting "go, andrew!".  oops.

our moms and my sister joined in the festivities to welcome him to the finish line along the embarcadero with throngs of other people cheering on runners from all four corners of the map.

baby's first marathon.

it really was cool to see people being so supportive of all these incredible athletes, even if they were complete strangers.  the runner's high was contagious.

of course, the most impressive runner of the bunch was our andrew.  after only a month of training, he managed to average 9 minute miles for the entire race.  he's definitely an inspiration to us all.

crossing the finish line!

after the race, andrew's mom treated us to a delicious brunch at momo's, complete with much-needed cocktails to toast to andrew's success.  and then the best part of the day happened (sorry, andrew): i fell in love with this adorable stranger named pumba.

i just can't even.  where has this dog been all my life?!

also, today is andrew's birthday.  looks like he just kicked 28's butt as he ran right into his last year of being a twenty-something, meaning he's oh so close to those sweet AARP discounts.

happy birthday, andrew!   i'm continually amazed by your strength and willpower.  you rock!