Dennis - Marathon Man

Dennis is a good friend of ours and turns 55 today. To celebrate this milestone, he has been following a training regimen which would get him ready to run his FIRST marathon today. We decided to be his groupies and to cheer him on, knowing that his wife and son would be there, too. So about three hours into the race we waited along the route, and along came Dennis. We greeted him with a squirt bottle of water, and he said he was still into the excitement and pushed himself onward. About a half hour later we took up another position along side of the race and cheered the runners on, read part of the Sunday paper, and waited for Dennis to appear. When he got there we gave him a cold bottle of water, sprayed him down again with the squirt bottle, and cheered him on. Finally, about five hours into the race, we connected up with his wife and son, and all of us cheered him as he crossed the finish line. Now, this is quite an achievement, I think. I like the fact that he set a goal, trained appropriately, and set out to run this marathon. Today, almost 2000 people ran the race, and at the end we saw two other friends who had also run the race. I think that she came in fifth in the female category and her husband finished his first marathon, just as had Dennis. If I was a little younger, maybe much younger, I might entertain the idea, but, it seemed helpful to cheer for these fine athletes as they strove to finish their race Maybe I could walk it. I'll have to think about that.