Marion Marathon A Family Affair

As expected, the 2nd Annual Marion Rotary Marathon for Shoes was a wet one. The runners took off toward their respective goal (marathon, half-marathon, or marathon relay) at 7 am in a light rain, and then things dried out before a very wet finish for most. Despite the weather, there were tons of families out to show their support, including Dawn Ovel of Cedar Rapids (above). The signs that different families created (more pictured below), their support, and their love was the highlight of the morning for me. To see where your friend or loved one finished, click here for the full marathon, here for the half, and here for the marathon relay. They all make me feel horribly inadequate but especially the top marathon finisher, Arthurs Bareikis. He ran the 26.2 miles in an average of 10.48 miles per hour, finishing in 2:30:32. Sigh. I better hit the treadmill.

Colin Nachtigal (2nd from left) of Pierre, South Dakota brought the whole family in support of his wife, who was running her first marathon.

The Joel Cardo family came out to support mom.

Catch me if you can.

Down the hill on 29th Avenue

Cars & runners share the road, with periodic cones to remind drivers to stay out of the running zone. We stayed on the sidewalk and blasted country music for runners.

Have you ever seen so many people running toward a porta potty?

Esco Group volunteers handed out water to runners and support personnel at this particular station, near the 16-mile mark (full marathon) and 8-mile mark (half-marathon).

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Marion Marathon a Family Affair