Hours in an icy rain madly cheering family and strangers along with four grandchildren under the age of five. Erik made his best time, coming in under three hours. John looked on the web and found that Erik’s sister was the fourth woman from Denmark to cross the finish line yesterday, and Erik’s cousin was the fourth woman from Sweden. Erik’s mother waved a makeshift Swedish flag, which bled onto everything in the rain but elicited delight from unknown Swedes who also were running in the Boston Marathon.
Mile 19 in Newton was our meeting place, next to the hot-dog vendor. Suzanne got stuck on the wrong side, but the police knew this would happen and had little cards already printed out to tell people how to drive to the other side. She got there in time.
The day was a grand accomplishment for all concerned, not excluding four cold, soggy, cheering children.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Thank you so much for this wonderful report! You are the the first of our family to report the achievement with all the support they got from the persons not running!! Hope to meet you and your husband! Love you to visit us in Bellingham, and to see and experience ocean and the mountain, Welcome!!! Greetings, Arne and Anna
It was quite a family weekend. The day before, was G’s birthday and one of your cousins came — and her daughter, who turns out to be a familiar face from my daily train commute!
We were at mile 21, at Boston College! It was my first time to see the marathon and I loved it all!
Yes, no matter how miserable the weather, it’s a joyful event, with strangers cheering strangers and offering encouragement.