2:03:18

2:03:18 is my sweet husband's finishing time for this morning's ING Georgia Marathon / Half Marathon!!

We woke up early this morning (and when I say early, I mean ... early ... as in ... my alarm was set for BEFORE 5 a.m.) and headed to the train station.  

We got downtown around 6:30.  Bruce put his number on, took a final swig of water, checked his bag and headed for the starting line.  His nerves seemed to be gone and he was raring to go.

At 7 a.m. 16,000 runners took off.

16,000!!!!!

Running a marathon or herding cattle?

After he took off, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do.  It was early, dark, cold and rain was in the forecast.  I knew I could go to the different cheering stations but I had left my map at home and was concerned straying too far from the starting point wouldn't get me back in time when he finished.

So first I took some pictures.

The beautiful Omni Hotel.  This place is really special to me because it is where I stayed when I came to Atlanta for the first time in 2005 for General Synod, the biennial meeting of the United Church of Christ.  I fell in love with the city and started to consider Emory as a viable option for graduate school.  It was also my first synod, which proved to be extremely formative to me as I discerned my call.

Anyway ... 

Then the aquarium.  No sentimental value there, just a really cool place.  I kind of wish they had it open early for the race - I would have looked at fish for two hours!!

Luckily, before my memory card filled up my friend Elisabeth called me.  Her husband, Tim, (who I go to school with) was also running and - because she works downtown and has parking - she was heading back to her car.  We figured we could drive to one of the later cheering sections and then quick drive back to make it to the starting line.

Which would have been a good plan.  If we hadn't decided to go to Krispy Creme instead.

Yes - our husbands were running 13.1 miles in the rain and we were inside a Krispy Creme eating donuts and sipping coffee.

They knew we were cheering on the inside.

As we were driving back we actually pulled up to a blocked intersection where the runners were coming through.  We saw Tim and a couple of people from their church and rolled down the windows of our nicely heated and dry car and screamed and cheered.

Really - we had a pretty sweet deal.

We got back to the finish line about ten or fifteen minutes before Tim came through.  She left to meet him - they were rushing to church - and I waited for Bruce (who had started in a later group so was coming through on the finish line later).

I was so happy to see him that when he came over to the corral where I was standing I didn't care that he was covered in sweat and rain - he got a big hug and kiss from me!!

(I was also happy to see him finish with a smile on his face!!)

This is him coming out of the corral covered in a blanket they were handing out.  The temperature had dropped significantly (hi, Mother Nature, I thought I moved to the South?).

All in all, a FUN morning!!  I left shortly after this to teach Sunday School, but Bruce hung around for some of the festivities.  The rest of our day was incredibly lazy but I think he deserved it!!

So did I - after all, it took a lot of brain power to decide between glazed and chocolate frosted.

Congratulations to all the runners!!