Beach to Beacon Day!

I might have to agree with my step-daughter's assessment, "That was the best race ever."

It was his fourth, my second, and her first time running one of the biggest races of the year! It was wicked hot & humid, but we all survived and had fun anyway. He placed in the top 1000 out of almost 7000 runners, and she placed 23rd in her age group. The spirit at this race is absolutely awesome, which is one reason why we like to run it. I could tell so many stories: laughing and racing as we biked to the park, visiting with all the excited runners at the start, hearing a great rendition of the National Anthem sung by a local girl, cheering our way across the start line, looking ahead and behind me at the crowd and feeling like I was enjoying a run with 6,000 friends, (6,602 to be exact - runners from 15 countries, 41 states and more than 265 Maine cities and towns) high-fiving spectators along the route, listening to a guy playing guitar and singing for us, dancing our way past speakers blasting music, laughing as we let kids spray us with hoses, soaking up encouraging words from spectators, tackling a hill to the beat of a man banging on a pan with a wooden spoon, enjoying one of the most beautiful courses, finishing an exhausting race with a great friend who pushed me a bit faster than I would otherwise have run, and thanking everyone along the way because the people are what makes B2B such a great event!