Sorry, no picture today. I don't think we packed the camera card and the cellular network in Canada charges an arm and a leg for connections, so just words today.

We're in Edmonton tonight. It has been a great trip so far! We left Thursday after work and drove to Muskegon and caught the Lake Michigan car ferry to Milwaukee. The crossing was beautiful!!! The lake was calm and the sun was shining. It was very hot on the shore, but quite cool out on the lake. We wished we had grabbed a sweatshirt before leaving our car below deck and couldn't get into it intransit, so we just toughed it out on the sun deck in the cool wind. Amazing how long it takes to get across - and we were on the high speed ferry!

Our first evening's stop was in Chippewa Falls Wisconsin. We were having a great time watching the lightning in the distance, but before too long found ourselves in the middle of a severe thunderstorm! Torrential rain, thunder, lightning and strong wind! We had to pull over because the rain was blinding. Luckily we weren't too far from our hotel and only had to drive about 30 minutes in that storm. We got to our hotel rather late, about 11:30.

The next morning, we were on our way to Duluth. We stopped along the way to pick up some cheese curds (yum!) and cherries (double yum!!!) and made it to Duluth around noon. We picked up Jim's race packet and wandered thru the fitness expo, picking up freebies. Then we ran to the store for a new pair of capri jeans (I discovered that morning that 1 of the 3 pair of shorts/pants, had a broken zipper and figured I couldn't go 2 1/2 weeks with only 1 pair of jeans and 1 pair of shorts!)

After a brief disagreement between our 2 GPS systems, we were on our way to my cousins' place in Hoyt Lakes. It was a gorgeous day for driving and in a little over an hour, we easily found our way to Judy and Elroy's place. Elroy is retired after working on the iron range and have a beautiful home in this sleepy little town on the Mesabi Iron Range. It is beautiful countryside - lots of lakes and natural beauty. We figured that Judy and Jim must have met each other at the Rafferty reunion 20-some years ago (we were all there!) but this was the real meeting. Jim and Judy have been Facebook buddies for over a year and have really hit it off, so it was fun for both of them to finally meet each other. While Elroy made sure we were well-hydrated, Judy prepared a fantastic spaghetti and meatballs dinner. Yum! It was so nice to relax and enjoy the company of family!

We stayed up talking until about 10 and then hit the sack in preparation of an early morning the next day. Jim was running in Grandma's Marathon and had to be to Two Harbors (the start of the race) by 6:30. It wasn't easy (for me) to get up but by about 5, we were on our way. Elroy drove and Jim sat up in front with him - guy talk in front, girl talk in back.

After dropping Jim off to catch the bus to the start of the race, we drove on down the road to find a place to watch the race. We drove down to Knife River and found a spot about a block from the race. We had about an hour's wait and then walked down to watch the action. We saw the wheelchair racers go by and then the frontrunners in the marathon and before too long along came Jim, running with his coach! How cool to have your coach there to run with you! This was the 5 mile mark and Jim was right on his target pace!

Because we were on the wrong (but much less crowded side of the street), we had to wait for most of the runners to go by before we could cross the street and get back to our car. We decided we probably missed him at the next spot, so decided to press on to Duluth. We found a parking spot about 2 blocks from the 19-mile mark and walked down to watch the race. It sure is inspiring to watch these races and we cheered on the runners. Before long, Jim ran by again. He was quieter than usual, I thought, but he was still on pace and looking good!!!

By now, it was about 10:30 am and with our 4:30 am breakfast, we were thinking lunch sounded pretty good. Because of the way the race loops around downtown Duluth, we didn't think it would be very easy to get to the finish, so we had agreed to meet up with Jim at the mall, up the hill. We went to Applebees and ordered lunch, while I kept checking my email for updates from Jim's champion-chip. At 25 miles, he was still on pace! One more mile to go and he had 9 minutes to do it! He had been running 8 minute miles up to this point. I was so excited for him! Wow - could this be the Boston qualifying run today??? I kept looking for updates and started getting worried that I wasn't getting an update. 1.2 more miles to go - where was that update??? Finally... I got an update 2:39:57. My heart sunk. Jim wanted a 2:35:59. He ran the best race he has run in 26 years, but he missed his target. I kept wondering what happened. I was so glad that I was with Judy and Elroy, or my mind would have wandered even more. I kept hoping there was a mistake. Finally, about a half hour later, my phone rang and it was Jim. He had been soaking his legs in Lake Superior (recovery) and had just picked up his bag with his jacket and phone. He said he left it all out there - he gave it his all and he was happy. He said that coach was holding onto his arm as he finished because he was staggering. He reassured me that he was fine and was always aware, but just very tired. 26.2 miles - wow!!! What an amazing guy! I love his attitude. I admire his persistance. I'm so proud of him and I love everything about him! Way to go Jim!!!