Dear family, friends and colleagues,

that's done !

This is with a mixed feeling of relief, pride but mostly...muscular pain that I finished this past Sunday my second marathon in an astonishing time (for me of course :-) of 3h53mn and not the least of all, we raised $10,000 for the friends of Carra !

For the fan of numbers, I placed 9,185 out of 33,608 finishers, 34,792 participants and 45,000 registered runners !

What a race...besides the pictures attached, here are few memories from the day that I wanted to share with you...

First of all, my daughter flew all the way from Edinburgh over the week end and it gave me the energy to push myself under the 4 hours and believe me it was a special moment !

Second, seeing my wife and daughter 3 times during the race was an additional motivation to keep me going. Thanks to the marathon layout and a great organization, the spectators can see you at multiple points running

Third, the start of the race was really cold as the temperature was 32 F (0 C) and it was impressive to see, when the starter gave the go, thousands of layers of clothes flying in the air as people were getting ready to run

Fourth, having Vincent Delgaizo, the president of Friends Of Carra flying all the way to Chicago to meet us and collect the check symbolically was so nice and refreshing because of his human touch and so that you know the money you've collected will really be going to help the children with Arthritis

Fifth, the great support of the spectators as there is almost no stretch where you do not see people cheering you up, for those of you who had the experience, this is just incredible

Sixth, I will keep in mind a poster that a husband was carrying for his wife on the side of the road and it said :
"now you better finish the race as you already messed up my week end !" I thought it was a funny one and I could hear my wife telling me that about the past 3 months :-)

Finally, the emotion, few tears and the pride of crossing the finish line under 4 hours was immense and that feeling is something very special that will stay with me, I am sure, for a little while :-)

Thanks again for a your incredible support all along that journey, you've been not only generous for the cause I was running for but very encouraging and your messages have been the fuel of my training and race.

I will never say never but right now, I'd like to think that it was my last marathon (this is for my wife :-) and that I am ending on a high note but who knows...In the meantime, I would like to leave you with a quote from Mark twain that I like :

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds inyour sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

take care all of you and I wish you the best !

Warm regards
Stephane