Mate’s Journey

On Sunday morning, we woke up and drove to Sacramento.

The sky looked like this:

When we arrived, we parked in Old Sacramento and walked from the Railroad Museum, across the bridge, and to Raley Field.  It was still gray outside, and the river looked like this:

Mate went in to register, and then we waited outside of the stadium until he was called to line up with Wave 3 of the Shamrockn’ Half Marathon.  He was pensive.  Mate looked like this:

He went to line up, and I stood on top of a little hill on the corner overlooking the starting/finish line.  Behind me, there was a photo drone that worked for the news:

Way behind me, was the sun coming up over the bridge and the city of Sacramento:

And in front of me, soon to be loosed like hounds on the hunt, or a horde of wild barbarians, was the wave of runners:

Mate was in there somewhere.  I did not see him.  But I remained optimistic as I walked back across the bridge…

And into Old Sacramento…

None of the stores were open, but I still saw this:

Once I got back to Old Sac, I deposited some of my stuff in the car, sat down, and waited.  And eventually, Mate appeared:

This picture was not originally so cool– it was lame, which sucked, because Mate posed and everything.  Anyway, I edited it and sent it to Mary and she told me to stop showing off my phone features, and then I laughed and walked back across the bridge to Raley Field, and back to the finish line.  I waited about half an hour, and then I saw him, rounding the corner, for the finish, and I gave him a high-five:

I had to walk back around the field to see him, so I didn’t actually see the finish line, per se, but he got the high five in time to take heart and run through it, so I had done my job as staff.  Then I walked into the stadium, and he was sweating all over section 107.  He looked decidedly less chipper:

We did not stay for the band, even though they were pretty good.

But he was still game to stop at a candy store on the way back, so we could buy the kids green salt water taffy and pretty canvas bags for St. Patrick’s Day.  Darrin was the AWESOME proprietor of Candy Haven.  He looks a lot like the guy on the front of the bag, but has better earrings, and can flirt spectacularly.  I fell a little in love with Darrin.

But not as in love as I am with Mate, who,  after we came home and ate lunch, looked a lot like this: