He Did It!

3:00 am, Dylan eats some peanut butter toast and a banana before we drive him to the school for the bus. He's showered and pumped.


At 8:30am, we all arrived at Mile 11, where Dylan's school team had a water site set up. Lyndsay is all aglow with pride in her brother. I have to admit it was very emotional. I kept crying with happiness for all these strangers accomplishing something so significant.


Conor tried his best to be good as we waited throughout the day for brother Dylan to pass by.

And then, we see him! That's him in the middle of the picture, approaching Mile 11!


He sees us and I think it makes him happy that we cheer the loudest.


His spirits were great. Not even sweaty yet, and very smiley.


He had to check in at the station really quickly, grab some gummy bears and a swig of water, and then head back out. It would be more than 15 miles before we see him again. Go, Dylan!


Meanwhile, we drove through downtown L.A. to where the finish line was. Crazy fast people were already crossing it. To kill some time, we went to the Denny's and shared a couple of milkshakes and some seasoned fries. It's what Dylan would have wanted.


Because he was wearing a microchip, we got texts on the cell phone that updated us on his progress as he crossed various milemarkers. We could tell his pace was slowing down, and I knew it was because of his poor knees. By the time we saw him, here at Mile 26, he was hobbling and not as smiley. He was in pain and ready to be done! He had walked the last several miles, and finished with a time of 5:54, we think.

But he kicked it up and ran across the last little bit to finish. (That's him dead center of the picture, behind the man in black's elbow.)


I'm so proud of this kid! What a champ!


This is Dylan with his running coach, Mr. Moss, who finished the marathon too, even with a stress fracture in his foot that he got around Mile 16.


So proud of our Dylan! He did it!


He tells us the gruesome details.


Look how worn out he is! And in such pain! But now he has a medal to show for his achievement, and we couldn't be prouder of him!


(And now, he's laying on my bed with ice on his swollen knees. He's already scarfed down tons of food--and a huge milkshake on the way home--and will probably go to bed very early. After all, he has to go to school tomorrow! If he can walk!)