First Marathon

His knees ache big time. Nevertheless, our son Doug Nytes completed his maiden marathon yesterday. He finished this year’s Chevron Houston Marathon with an official time of 4 hours, 38 minutes. (His unofficial time was 4:34 – it took him and running partner Chris Blume four minutes to reach the starting line from their position back in the pack.)

I almost missed him between Miles 17 and 18 – it’s hard to pick individual runners out of the pack and Doug had gotten a buzz cut just prior to the race. But he heard me cheering on the runners, stopped about five yards past me, turned around and came back for a manly hug.

Post-race, Barbara and I posed with him for this triumphant photo op. We joined the marathoners and their families for seared mammal flesh and margaritas at the Blumes’ home inside the Loop. Chris and Doug said that now they’d run a marathon, they’d never do it again. I bet Chris $10 they’d run next year.

The men’s winner of the 26-mile-385-yard race was an invited runner, David Cheruiyot, in 2:12:02. Only a smidge faster than Doug. But give the lad time to mature and he’ll be a front-runner.

Note the official T-shirt. The finisher’s medal. The big smile. The proud ‘rents. There’re ain’t many things that compare with completing your first marathon (and he's carrying on a family tradition, too).

Congratulations, Doug. You earned it mile after mile!

Photograph by Donna Nytes.