#13

Today I am grateful for safe travels to and from Maine and all that we got to experience there.

There is much from our trip that I will be writing about over the next days. It is fitting to start with the driving force behind it all--running our 13th marathon.

We had decided, since we both turned 50 this year, that a destination marathon was warranted. We had always wanted to go to Maine and thankfully the Mount Desert Island Marathon fit our family's schedule.

It was, from start to finish, easily the most scenic of all our marathons. I took about 30 pictures along the course. It was worth the extra time it took to pull over and get my phone out. It seemed only appropriate to take this picture below of the mile marker at Mile 13 to mark our 13th marathon.

Besides being the most scenic marathon we have done, we would also have to rank it the hilliest. The views made it worth it, but the last miles were a challenge. Darcy and I ran together for about 16 miles, then completed the journey on our own, about 20 minutes apart.

We are deeply grateful to be physically capable of running and completing 26.2 miles. And we are so grateful we share this running passion and that Sam got to see Maine with us as well.

And one more thank you to the marathon organizers for a solid event and one of the coolest medals we have seen:

Yes, that is a lobster claw. :-)