Rocked it.

Let's face it.

Running the marathon is not easy. That 26.2 miles will be filled with excitement, fear, anxiety, happiness, pain, pride, and relief.

My cousins ran their first marathon today, through the Kids Run Philly Style program. And Ted and I promised early on we'd be right there with them, cheering them on. We pulled up to their house at 6:00 am, and everyone loaded into the van to make it to the race before the start.

Some things I noticed:
1) The weather was not suitable for the wheelchairs to complete the full marathon, so the field opted to do the Rothman 8K instead.
2) This year was the first year the marathon started in waves, which seemed to work from a spectator perspective, but it took my cousins almost a half hour to cross.
3) I'm not sure how many people were dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2, but they seemed to be everywhere.
4) I saw the guy in the pink tank top and tutu and princess wand...I think it's the same I've seen in my magazines.
5) Two girls were running for the husband of one who was in Iraq. I made sure I told them "thank you". When I read that, suddenly the idea of running 26 miles seemed like a walk in the park.
6) My mother realized races aren't just tall, thin people in leotards. Races are made up of people of all shapes and sizes.
7) As Ted and I were waiting for the cousins, around mile marker 24, one lady stopped and asked if we could please cheer for her and asked if she could make it. We both responded with a full "Absolutely!" and she didn't look convinced. I smiled, and said: "This sucks big time, doesn't it?" She seemed to relate to that pretty well--"Yes, this sucks!" "But," I said, "You are so close. Don't let this pain take it away from you." She smiled and headed off.
8) It was cold. Very, very cold. I warmed up pretty quickly when Ted and I jumped in and ran the last three miles with them.
9) Just as Ted's family encouraged us at the end, I hope we had the same encouragement for my cousins. They seemed to pick it up a bit when we fell in beside them, and I got a great shot of my cousins with their older sister. Even their parents and my mother got into it, and we all ran together at the end, before branching off and letting them take the glory.

Congratulations to everyone who ran today! You are all rockstars!