Run run run as fast as you can.

Busy weekend around these parts. Dinner with family on Friday night, breaking in the new target store that just opened on Saturday and then spending 4 hours cleaning out the downstairs room with Tim. It looks a thousand times better, but we have waaay too much crap.

Yesterday Steve and I took Maggie to watch the Nike Women's Marathon trail through the fantastic Seacliff neighborhood. My sisters Ellen and Joan came down from Sonoma county too. Maggie's cousin Colleen was running the half marathon and we told her we would be out there at about the 8 mile mark. Her cousin Clare may have also run. She volunteered for the event and was likely given a bib to run, but we never found her.

 I chose that point thinking I could easily park with Maggie and there wouldn't be a lot of people somewhere in the middle of the course. I was wrong on both counts. The neighborhood was FULL of people cheering and ringing bells and carrying signs. I couldn't find a place to park and finally pulled right up to the barricades that was closing off one of the streets and parked there. A man pulled up next to me and asked if it was OK to park there. I shrugged and said, "It's OK with me." He laughed and parked next to me. Safety in numbers. (and no we did NOT get a ticket!)

There were thousands of runners. Thousands of women. Like 30,000.  If I had to estimate, I would say there was one man for every 50 women. It was really quite amazing. It was 7:30 in the morning and there was this incredible energy in the air and on the streets. I had to keep pulling Maggie back out of the way as the throng of runners just kept coming and coming. I figured if a runner crashed into Maggie's chair, Maggie would be alright, but the runner would really be hurt.

We watched and yelled and cheered and got caught up in the energy of the day. Maggie and I made a sign on Saturday night that said Team Colleen and we waved that around At least three different runners named Colleen appreciated that before we found our Colleen.  Someone from the Kaiser Permanente group gave  Maggie a pom pom and she was into it.

It was great. Then I saw a woman running in a shirt that said simply  "Boston Strong" and I felt my eyes well up with tears. It was shocking to realize (again) how something as pure and wholesome as a marathon could have been the sight of so much carnage and horror. Now I have to root for Boston in the World Series.

We were delighted when we saw Colleen trotting up the hill. Thanks to the beauty of texting, she knew exactly where we were and I told her to come up the left side, so she ran right into Ellen's arms. She hugged every single one of us, stopped for a picture and headed on her way.

We went back to our illegally parked car and realized how freaking cold we all were. Ellen and Joan headed north and Steve and Maggie and I went home and drank tea.

Colleen kept running.