The Real Show

"Trick or Treat!"

Dress Rehearsal

Cousin Holden and Ming Mei prior to going over to Grandma and Grandpa Butler's house three days before Halloween...because when it comes to candy, practice makes perfect.

Pink and Orange

Well, her pink hat doesn't match the autumn colors, but it matches her pony!

Robo-Girl

The result of Ming's creativity and Levi's cardboard creation.

Aren't I Special?

Ming's Daddio and Big Bro

This morning in Portland, Oregon Titus and I tackled 26.2 miles of the hard, wet pavement of the Rose City. The race started with dry skies, but ended wet. Very wet. Here we are at the MAX station (light rail) catching our train downtown at 5:45AM.

Once downtown we lined up at about 6:40AM with an enthusiastic throng of other runners for the 7AM gun.

Linda caught me at the 5 mile mark - still dry, and still relatively fresh. The rain came just shortly after this photo and stayed steady throughout the remainder of the race.

Linda tried to get a shot of Titus at the 5mi mark, but he wasn't going to slow down for anything - not even his Mom.

I outpaced Titus for about 12 miles, then ducked into a porta-potty to get rid of some excess Gatoraide. Just as I was emerging from the pit stop, Titus was running by - divine! We ran together for 3-4 miles until we hit a manly hill. He forged up it while my legs were feeling their age. The last 5 miles for both of us were really something. No, make that Really Something.

Titus finished his 26.2 miles in 3 hours 53 minutes 17 seconds. I was about 5 minutes behind him at 3 hours 58 minutes and 31 seconds.

Now where did I put my ice pack...