Dirt Diva

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter."
Mark Twain
Sunday Andy, George and I ran with Pat DeVita the oldest legacy runner of the LA marathon she is 77. She placed 3rd in her age and finished in 6;43.

Ok this was my first marathon in 10 years and last time I ran LA marathon it was 11 years ago. What are the chances of it raining again 11 years later. Yep the last time I ran it it was raining for the first 19 miles but it did let up.
This year that would not be the case. The rain started as soon as the gun went off.

We couldn't find Pat at the start so our plan was for Andy to get in his coral in case she started early and look for and wait at mile 3.
I stayed with George and ran looking for her since we started near the back. I took off on George and said I would run ahead and wait at mile 3.

I meet a few bloggers in the morning Bob who is from Japan and was trying to when his age at 60. He won last year, he ended up finishing in 2nd this year.

Met Zachary who read about me in Born to run, he was running his first marathon in five fingers. he finished ;-)
So we got to mile 3 where we waited for George, I saw a guy running with a watermelon on his head a real one. I saw a guy running with an Alhambra bottle on his back accepting donations for the victims in japan. I saw groups of young kids running. I saw old people , I saw walkers I saw blind people. There was even a 400 pound man running it. And there was even the bass player of one of my favorite bands running Flea from the red hot chili peppers. I was amazed at all the different people running for different reasons. Me i was running for my friend Vicki DeVita who lost her fight with cancer in November. Pat DeVita is her mother so that was why I was there.
George came up and we told him to go on ahead and look for her. We had cellphones so could call if we spotted her. Andy and I waited for a long while finally I spotted Pat with her daughter Sherry and her friend Liz. Yay!!! She was so happy we found her and felt bad about the mix up on where to meet. Didn't matter we were all together running in memory of Vicki.

The weather was really bad but Pat never once complained just kept pushing through. I was so inspired by her determination and will power to just keep going even though the conditions were awful.
We finished in 6:43 and it was an awesome feeling knowing I got to help push her along. She was very happy we were there. She commented it would of taken her 8 hours had we not been there to motivate her. My goal now is to run LA marathon with Pat DeVita every year in Vicki's memory.