kyarns: Vermont City Marathon Recap

So what an amazing weekend! It all started out at 8:30am on Saturday morning down at the waterfront, where Helen and Sophie participated in the YAM Scram. They each ran a mile without stopping (I'm not sure this has happened before!) and boy were they excited! It was just amazing to see hundreds of kids participating in this event. Here is Helen running (she's the smaller one behind the two older girls in front):

And here's a slightly better picture of Sophie, since she wasn't right in the middle of the pack. She's in mid air:

They were a bit red faced and hungry after the race, but thrilled with their new medals!

Saturday afternoon my sister Lisa arrived. This was to be her first marathon. We headed over to the Sheraton to register and pick up our bibs. We had a nice dinner and woke up early on Sunday, so we could relax and have our coffee and eat a bit before we had to head into town. I was nervous about the logistics of the whole thing. I'd never even been a spectator at the marathon before, so with 7,600 or so runners and over 25,000 spectators expected, we were a little worried about parking and meeting up with the rest of the group at 7:30 am. We drove into town with my good friend Alice (who was also running on a relay team) and found a spot about 1-1.5 miles away.

Burlington was just crawling with people. It is impossible to even describe it. It was so electrifying! We walked toward Battery Park with hundreds of other runners and spectators. Here we are at 7:40am, just 25 minutes before I had to start running (l to r: Michele, Barb, Kalen, me):

At 8am, my sister and I quickly squeezed through spectators and runners and got into place at the start for our pace group. A minute later, I turned around and who is standing right next to me in this sea of runners, but Suzie (who teaches classes for us and used to work in the shop.) She was doing the relay with her husband, son and daughter. The gun went off and after 3 minutes of shuffling, we crossed the start.

All along the route, people were screaming and cheering and playing music. It really was such a wonderful experience. At about mile 1.5 we passed my family - Marc, Helen and Sophie, Lisa's daughter Meredith, and my mom and dad. It was so emotional to see them waiting for us. They were holding up signs (that my daughters had made) and screaming and they ran out to give us hugs. Here is Lisa getting a hug from my mom:

On the Beltline, which was an out and back stretch, we were able to see the race leaders, as they were already coming back as we were just heading out. At one point I heard someone yell my name and it was Carlie K., a running customer and friend of ours. It was so great to see her! She was already heading back into town.

The rest of the day was perfect (except for some pouring rain!) We finished our relay and all ran well with no problems or injuries. My sister was successful in running her first marathon, and even broke her estimated finish time by one minute. We are SO psyched to do this again next year. In fact, we are going to have several Kaleidoscope Yarns relay teams, and we are going to get some of you customers to run WITH us! So get your running shoes on and get out there and get moving! Remember - it's not about the TIME, it's about the EXPERIENCE!

Yesterday Carlie came in with 4 beautiful geraniums - to congratulate us on a job well done. Thanks Carlie! It was so fun to talk running with you (and knitting!) We are inspired by you to keep on going!

Here are some other shots from the day... My neice and daughters waiting at the 3rd relay exchange zone.

Kalen with a strong finish, after running up the hill on Battery Street!

My sister at mile 15 - still smiling!

Kalen and Brett (Michele's husband) after running their legs (#3). Brett was a last minute fill-in for my friend Alice's team. Next year Brett, you are running for US!