Chicago Marathon

10.10.10, that was the date of the Chicago Marathon. The Pella VL's, the OC VL's and the Comfort's all made the road trip to the windy city for the marathon! Runners: Chad, Shay, Erin, Erin's sister Megan and myself. Cheering Section: Rob and Heather! Saturday morning we headed to the expo to pick up our packets.

At the expo, Nike had printed on a wall the name of every registered runner; all 55,000. 45,000 registered and 10,000 running for charities.

Sure enough, "Seth Comfort" was running!

Sunday morning Chad, Shay and I met up with Erin and Megan in our hotel lobby around 6:15 to head to the course. We split ways once we got to Grant Park, I headed into the "A" corral and wished the rest of the crew good luck! The first mile we head under the road, I saw Heather on the corner, thumbs up!
In the background, Chad throws his hand in the air as Chad and Shay run by!
Chad pumps his fist in the air...determined to finish!

Coming through at mile 11, I was no longer having fun...tummy troubles caused me to stop 4 times to use the port-o-potties, that combined with high temperatures made it a rough day for me.

Chad and Shay had a little trouble around mile 11 too...they lost each other! Shay was about two blocks in front of Chad and as the picture shows a little puzzled as to where he went!

Chad asking the question "Have you seen Shay?" Thanks to the great support of our cheering section they were quickly reunited!

Erin and Megan are all smiles as they run together through mile 11!

As the day wore on, I peeled off my jersey and as you can see I am barely closing ground on the guy walking in front of me...rough day as I round the corner to the finish line!

Shay gives a big wave as she and Chad make their way to the finish line!

Erin also making her way to the finish line!

Post finish resting our legs and drinking lots of water!

The Finishers!

On our way back to the hotel we found this little guy....RRRAAAWWWRRR!

Here are a few "official" photos from the marathon.

Chicago Marathon...the end

Pumpkins

I love many things about Fall: changing leaves, honey crisp apples, fall decorations, pumpkin desserts and carving pumpkins. Last night we hung out with some friends and carved pumpkins (sadly we forgot our camera so don't have photos of all the pumpkins) below are Seth and I's carvings. I carved leaves and Seth went abstract with pumpkins inside of pumpkins. Too bad pumpkins don't last very long once they are carved but they are fun while they last.

Piper Lynn

Last Friday afternoon, as Heather and I were heading to Chicago, I got a call from my sister informing me that I was an uncle again! Piper Lynn, my newest niece. Heather and I headed down to Indianola last night to see the little bundle of joy.
Proud Grandpa Tom and Piper hanging out on the couch together.

I got a chance to hold Piper...she is only 5 days old, that's crazy!

Morgan is adjusting well to being a big sister, she and Auntie Heather were making silly faces!

...and more silly faces!

Then Morgan and I had a little jam session.

...followed up with a tickle fight!

We had a great time visiting our new niece, she is a very happy baby. Morgan gave us a tour of Piper's room...it is adorable, good work! What a blessing that little girl is and we can't wait to watch her grow and teach her cool things that only aunt's and uncle's can teach!

Vermeer 5k

At the end of September, Heather's Grandma signed myself, Chad and Shay up for the 1st annual Gary Vermeer Memorial 5k Walk/Run. This run is in memory of Gary Vermeer and is for employees and family of the Vermeer Corporation. Heather's Grandma is a long time employee of Vermeer and therefore our connection to the race. It started at 5:30, Wednesday evening in Pella at the corner of Vermeer's plant/headquarters.
The plant is on the outside of town, basically in the country, so we headed out on the road until we hit the first left turn (a country mile), went straight till the next left turn (mile 2) and finished at the other end of the plant. Basically a big "U".

The finish line was in the parking lot...and even though it was a small race, they used a chip timing system...Awesome!

I did end up crossing the finish line in first place! Click here for the official results.

Big thumbs up after the race...proudly wearing my SCRC jersey!

Heather, Nathan and Aaron were my cheering section for the evening...another big thumbs up!

Big thanks to Grandma for signing me up for the race, it was a lot of fun and I hope I can run it again next year! Big thanks to Heather, Nathan and Aaron for cheering me on...you are the BEST!