Reflections on a marathon

This past weekend was the Richmond Sun Trust Marathon. My son-in-law decided to run this year and we decided to go up and be his cheering section. The fact that our grand-daughter was going to be there added to our reasons to go.

Adam has run two marathons before: The Marine Corps Marathon and the NYC Marathon in 2008 (see my post about the 2008 NYC Marathon). This was my first. Since I didn't want to show him up, I elected not to run this year, maybe next year. Then again, maybe pigs will fly next year too.

Since I've been traveling a lot, my wife and I made use of frequent flyer points and hotel reservation points to minimize our cost. We flew up on Thursday and arrived late that night. Friday, we rode through the marathon route. That gave us non-runners a good view of what Adam would be seeing on Saturday and helped get him in the right mind-set. It also showed us all where the hills would be.

On race day, we saw the start of the race. Over 4900 runners started out. I made the mistake of being on the wrong side of the street and didn't get good pictures at this point. I also couldn't get back across the street until after all 4900+ runners passed.


After the start, we hustled over to the first check-point to cheer our runner on. He was looking good and flashed us a thumbs-up.

And of course, the smallest cheer leader even had her own sign:

I'm still processing pictures for uploading. All-in-all, we had a great time. Adam didn't finish in as good a time as he wanted, not sure how his time compares to the previous two. I guess next year I'll have to enter so I can show him how it's done (HA!).

NYC Marathon winner is SC resident

Yep, I'm coming out with my early prediction that Adam Beam, the young man pictured at the left is going to be the winner of the NYC Marathon. I was granted the privilege of being the ONLY photographer allowed to take pre-win pictures when he made a trip to Greenville back in August as a part of his training regimen.

For those of you who aren't following the running circuit, this Sunday is the ING New York City Marathon at 9am (don't forget to set your clock back Saturday night). Beam and approximately 39,999 losers will gather in the city that doesn't sleep for the run. Beam was one of more than 100,000 applicants to the race.

Anticipating the win, NBC's Today show asked Adam and his lovely wife, Ashley, to join them on Monday morning. Rather than steal the show, the Beams agreed to stay outside and only be shown during Al Roker's weather reports (I think I still have exclusive photo rights, so I'll be expecting a check from NBC). Later the two will appear in Dave Letterman's audience as they round out their trip.

The race can be streamed online at NBCSports.com/Marathon in the US. Additionally, NBC Sports will broadcast a one-hour highlights show nationwide beginning at 3:00 p.m. EST on Sunday.

Oh, did I mention that Ashley is my daughter and Adam had the wisdom to choose her as his wife? Maybe that interferes with my objectivity on this subject.