A Major Award

We all love this scene from "A Christmas Story." The dad wins "a major award," and repeats this phrase over and over. It always makes me laugh.

Last night, the Newport Marathon posted results from Mark's race. Mark was just hoping to have made the top 50. I was sure he had done better than that, and we were eagerly waiting for the official results to be available. His official time was 3:13:27. I was sure he had placed higher than 50, because I had watched all the runners cross the finish line and I didn't think more than about 30 had finished before he did.

It turns out that Mark placed 32nd overall, and was 3rd in his age group. He won a major award! "It's a major award!" We keep saying that and laughing about it. We had not hung around Newport for the awards ceremony, so they are mailing us his engraved plaque. We could have stuck around, but we didn't think it was necessary. Mark had qualified for Boston, and that was his goal. He never dreamed of winning "a major award" and placing in his age group.

I'm so proud of Mark. Not just because of his "major award" that will soon be hanging on his office wall, but because of how far he has come with his running. In 18 months, he has gone from barely able to jog 3 miles, to dropping 30 pounds and qualifying for Boston with 7 minutes to spare!