The Paralympics!

A few weeks after the Olympics ended, the Paralympics began and we were lucky to have tickets to "Athletics" in the stadium (better know as Track and Field where I come from).  Of course it was essential to start our day with a coffee and bagel at one of the funky coffee shops in Hackney Wick. 

There was a giant art harp thing for Evie to play with (Millie stayed home again. Next time she will come to all of the Olympic events with us!) while we waited for our coffee.  And a cat for her to harass (not pictured):

On our way into the stadium, we were greeted by these enthusiastic Dutch Paralympics fans.  They were really fun and really excited!

The stadium was packed with people and we were proudly waving our American flag (but cheering for everyone, because the athletes were all amazing).  The noise and support from the stadium was unbelievable.

Blade runners.  A Brit won and also got a world record. He was born with no legs and became an athlete at an early age, despite his disability:

This runner was doing the longest run in Athletics (I forget how long that is, but it is a lot of laps) and sprained his ankle as he started.  He finished a good five minutes after everyone else, but he kept running and the crowd went wild. It was very inspiring and moving.

The wheelchair racing was also really fun to watch...and fast!  Jim and I were near Green Park the next weekend and got to watch the wheelchair marathon as well.

We had lots of opportunities to just hang out and enjoy what the Olympic park had to offer outside of the athletic events.  We sat on a number of Jim's benches, enjoyed his gardens and all of the other things he worked so hard on as part of his own construction management Olympics team. It was rewarding for us all to see how much everyone was enjoying themselves and I'm so happy that we got to have the experience of being part of it from the very beginning!