my husband, the marathon runner

If someone would have told me 3 years ago when we moved to Tokyo that my husband would be running a marathon, I would have never believed them. but here we are 3 years later, after a total lifestyle change and look at him now! Since moving to Tokyo, Ryan has lost a TON of weight (mostly b/c of the lack of fast food and smaller portion sizes) and exercises regularly. We were SO proud of him for finishing the marathon. He did it in 4 Hr. 55 min. The kids and I met him at the finish line. The kids were having a great time watching all the hilarious costumes/hats some of the runners were wearing. a wedding dress, a chicken suit, etc.

It was very chaotic--35,000 runners, met by all their family and friends at the finish line. We saw him running just before he crossed the finish line, but then it actually took us about an hour to catch up with him. it was just so crowded. It was also raining almost the entire time. the rain stopped the last 7 K of the race. and it was only 4C/39F at the start of the race. Ryan was freezing. One cool thing we really liked was that each runner had a chip attatched to their shoe so we could get on the internet and track his progress during the race. It updated every 5K. We had a 3D map of the race at home, so the kids were enjoying mapping out dad's location all morning. They also have cameras along the way, taking your picture, but it will be a while before we can access those. Also, afterwards as were were walking out, there was a hallelujah chorus singing "Happy Day" it was hilarious!

below, is Ryan just after the race
This is Ryan with Nick, his friend from work. They trained together.

The kids had a lot of fun making these signs.