Marathon de Santiago

Arden ran his first full marathon, yes that's 42 k or 26.2 mi in a staggering personal best 3:52 min, through the streets of Santiago, Chile, on a brisk but sunny April 1, 2012.  Amber and friend Maura, in from Washington D.C. for the week, dominated the 10k, while fellow OU bobcat, Amanda Panda, in from Jersey, destroyed the 21k half marathon in preparation for her full first full marathon in May.

Amongst the 10,000 fellow racers spread out over three distances, we knew finding each other would be difficult and agreed on a meeting point and an approximate finish time based on Arden's 4 hour goal.  So as planned, Amber and friends gathered at the finish line (point A) at the 4 hr mark, Amber inside the track waiting to run the last 100 meters with her weary husband, all three unaware that Arden had crossed the finish line 8 min earlier and was currently hobbling towards meeting point B in the nearby plaza.  After an hour of waiting and wandering, Arden returned to meeting point A just in case and found Maura and Amanda, cameras locked and loaded, and poor Amber, worried sick but still waiting anxiously for her wounded soldier.  We took a few action shots and headed home proudly sporting our new Santiago Marathon t-shirts and copper medals of participation.  

That evening we met up with Arden's Mexican training partner, Uriel, and his Japonese friend Kyomaru, for an International night out at a famous bar called "The Clinic."  Great food, strong drinks, and conversation in English, Spanish, and Japanese made for a memorable evening.