Over the river and through the woods...

Well, safe to say blogging and running in general have taken a back seat to other facets of my life lately.  So the close reader should be able to infer that I did not participate in Grandma's Marathon last weekend.  But I did go as a spectator.  So consider this a Spectator Report.

I met Kate (who was a team leader for the MDRA spring marathon training class) and fellow MDRA blogger Drew Placknar in Shoreview at 5:45 a.m. and headed to Duluth.  Drew is also a coach for the spring marathon training class.  Once in Duluth we picked another MDRA coach for the spring class, Melissa, and headed to mile six.  We got there right as the 3:20 balloon went by. 

We got there just in time to see Polar Bear Plungers Chris Massol and Kristen Johnson run by.

Once the field went by...

...we got back in the car and headed to the William A. Irvin around mile 25.5.  Along the way we saw the men's leaders go by at mile 25.  Still such a tight pack.  Philemon Kemboi (middle in the orange singlet) ended up winning by 16 seconds. 

We didn't see the close finish, but we did see Buzunesh Deba sprint by on her way to victory.

A little less than half an hour later, a cute puppy made an appearance!!  Oh yeah, and your Tuesday Trail blogger Nathan came by.  Nice of the lady on the cell phone to take time out from her conversation to cheer Nathan on.

Drew Riddles in his first marathon meets his goal of breaking 3:30.  Very exciting.

Drew P. and I cheering.  Are working hard or what?

Okay well maybe not all that hard.  Certainly not as hard as these guys.  Congratulations to the MDRA Spring Marathon Training class participants and to all Grandma's finishers!