1 hour 45

I am so proud of my darling Zev. This morning he ran the Stuttgart Half Marathon. It was the perfect day for it too; 73 degrees Fahrenheit and beautiful blue German skies. Zev has trained very hard for this run and ran an excellent time; his PR to date (1:45). He looked great afterwards too and had so much energy left! I played photographer today and am glad that I did because I am battling a terrible cold that has left my nose all red like Rudolph (the red nosed reindeer ;-). Here are some highlights from the morning! Enjoy...

1. My gorgeous boy before the run. He ran in the "yellow" team (based on his time) and looked perfectly color coordinated (in my opinion) in his yellow shirt and yellow sunglasses. I am sure he didn´t plan it that way ;-)

2. His name and number. In case he forgot his name. 

3. Portaloos anybody (notice what is going on in the background)? Remember, this IS Europe! Ha

4. Seems that Stuttgarters never pass up an opportunity to make a political statement (the population is VERY politically active here. Very "green" and liberal.) The signs on these men´s shirts are protesting the "Stuttgart 21" project, which is a project to modernize and expand the central train station and make Stuttgart more of a hub. It involved cutting down trees though and that never goes over well...A proposed solution is the "Stuttgart 21" project.

5. Pink socks. This was a male runner too. I like the color actually.

6. The Polizei were helping clear traffic. I like the female officer´s white beret.

7. And they´re off! First off were the hand cyclists followed by the roller bladers.

8. Here comes my boy!

9. He was so focused and I was trying to snap pictures as quickly as I could, that he almost missed seeing me until I shouted his name!

10. The local firefighters even came out for a look.

11. Victory is SWEET!

12. Showing me his prize.

13. Checking to make sure it´s real.

14. Home bound with his new "Mein Lauf" commemorative shirt.

15. Getting all high tech. Zev´s run mapped out on his special Garmin GPS watch.

Well done, Zev. I am so proud of you!

We have a special shout out to Uncle Johnny, who is celebrating his 50th birthday today! Happy Birthday, Uncle John. Here´s to many more to come...