A community effort

As we've covered before, a marathon finish line is one of my very favorite places.

Of course, any meaning is created entirely by the people who make it happen - without it, a finish line is just spray paint on a road, right? Every year I volunteer at the Twin Cities Marathon, I marvel more at all the people it takes to make this finish line a special place: the runners who push themselves to take on the challenge and the spectators, families, friends, staff and volunteers who support them along the way.

Today I felt so grateful to spend the day with such dedicated volunteers, and I felt fortunate to see so many runners finish the 10 Mile and marathon. (Get this: a full one-third of the runners were crossing their first marathon finish line!)

And this year, more than ever before, the spectators were in my heart. Today, around 300,000 spectators zigzagged around the Twin Cities, cheered in their yards, and rooted for their friends and family. At one point late in the morning, in steady drizzle, I looked back over my shoulder and really took in the sight of all the people waiting to catch one peek of a loved one crossing the finish line.

See the sign way on the edge of the photo?

That's a big handmade sign, complete with hearts and exclamation points, held up a few rows back: "YOU DID IT MATT!!!" I loved it.

And for a finish area with thousands of spectators meeting up with runners, you'd be surprised by how many spectators and runners actually see each other right at the finish line. Sometimes the spectators would cheer a runner's name like crazy, and the marathon finisher would hoot and holler right back. Sometimes, a spectator and a runner would just beam at each other, a quiet moment in a big, loud crowd.

A marathon finish is a community effort. It was a wonderful day.

Marathon weekend

It's Twin Cities Marathon Weekend!

This was a wonderful day (in spite of some rain showers) and I'm so excited for tomorrow. Today included volunteering at the Saturday events (10K, 5K, kids' half-mile and mile, Toddler Trot and Diaper Dash) with great people, celebrating a mama-to-be at a very sweet baby shower, and watching an exhilarating Tennessee game that (in spite of the eventual loss) was one of the most exciting Rocky Top games I've ever seen.

Tomorrow: the marathon and 10 Mile! Friends pinning on race bibs tonight: I'll be cheering!

A fright

For Throwback Thursday, in honor of Halloween coming up later this month, I bring you an image from Halloween, circa 1988:

This picture makes me laugh until I cry.

The real mystery, of course, is who or what is off to the left, eliciting these reactions from my brother and me. My best guess is that it's my grandpa wearing one of the wonderful scary masks he liked to trot out at Halloween.

Whatever the source of the scare, I think we can all agree that my brother's tiger rendition is truly amazing, no?

The diaries

When I was sorting through boxes labeled "Rebecca - Nostalgia" over the weekend, I found nearly my entire collection of diaries. I kept lots of them as a kid, some years more actively than others, often addressing entries to myself for whatever reason ("Dear Becky" and "Your friend, Becky").

I got a kick out of this section of "Rebecca - Nostalgia." Some entries were very succinct. I have no idea what prompted this one, from December 1992, but I do agree that my mom is neat (in both ways).

That's "Dear Diary, Our family is old-fasioned. We have an excellent Christmas tree and Mom is neat. In both ways."

Later in my teen years I felt self-conscious about keeping a diary because of those inevitable times when you read back and cringe about something goofy you wrote. Apparently I decided to take matters into my own hands in 1991, when I was seven, and edit earlier entries. Don't do this!! Note the snarky "in 1991, I get up at 7:00" asterisk:

That's "I get up at 6:00 AM or sometimes I almots miss the bus that's when I get up at 15 to 8:00!!" I appreciate the double exclamation point and the alarm that it suggests about waking up at 15 to 8:00.

The diaries covered some regular "day in the life" moments:

I like the "California Raisins" and "Garfield's Christmas" shout-outs.

And finally, I remember my dad helping with this poem:

Then there are the volumes from a few years later, complete with fake locks and crammed full of writing, into which I haven't even delved yet. That's a project for another day.

Hello, October