This weekend I participated in a grueling and arduous event...The Twin Cities Spectathon* - aka I cheered for my friends running the TC10 and Twin Cities Marathon.
And Everyone Kicked Ass.
I started the day off by dropping J off at the start. He claimed he was going to run a 4:50 marathon. I knew he was full of crap and estimated a 4:30.
Then I high-tailed it to mile 21.5 (mile 5 of the TC10 course) to meet up with my runner girls that weren't racing. Ruth, Karen, Claudia and I cheered, held signs, and rang the cowbell like there was no tomorrow as we cheered on Kim, JD, Cindy, Val, Mary, Melissa, Melissa, Jayne and Emily. Everyone looked so great, so strong. YAY!
And I think the 10-milers liked my sign - "Your feet hurt because you're KICKING SO MUCH ASS". We got lots of smiles and laughs and comments.
After all of our runners passed, we zipped off to try and catch our girlies again. We made it to mile 8.5ish in time to see everyone but Super Speedy Val. By this time, the ominous clouds overhead put their money where their mouth was...and the sky opened and the rain poured down. But our runners stayed strong, even in the pouring rain. Because they rock.
My hair, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. Curly hair + rain + jumping around like a crazy person...I don't even want to do the math. Suffice it to say, it wasn't pretty.
By this time, we were cold and wet. I needed coffee. Please don't get between Ally and her caffeine. So we hit up the Caribou and then headed to CVS to get umbrellas before heading back to mile 21.5.
We arrived in time to see some of the super stud rock star marathon speedsters run by, and I ran into triathlete/runner/blog-stalker Ryan. :)
We huddled under our umbrellas, cheered, rang cowbells and tried to stay warm.
Before I knew it, the rain had stopped and the frequency of runners was picking up. The cheering began in earnest.
Karen's boyfriend came whizzing by and looked fantastic.
Emily's boyfriend came whizzing by and looked fantastic.
I'd been stalking J's progress on my Blackberry...he was running just under a 9:15 pace. Let's do the math. That's close to...hmmm...carry the one...a 4 HOUR MARATHON. 4:50 my ass!! This guy is a genetic freakshow. It's just not fair.
J came whizzing by...also looking fantastic. High spirits, lots of energy, running strong.
Anyway. I bid my posse farewell...and headed to the finish.
Traffic sucked. His predicted finish time was just before noon...right as I was parking my car.
I hustled to the finish line and was getting close to the end...and I heard them call his name as he crossed the line with a finish time of 4:07. At least I hadn't missed him completely!
I headed closer to the actual finish line and ran into fellow runners Mary and Duana - we chatted for a bit, I told Mary how fantastic she looked on the race course...and headed off in search of J.
I spotted him and we made our way over to the family meeting area to...
*bum bum bummmmmmmmmmm*
Meet His Parents.
Um, nervous much??
But they were cool, very nice. It was fine. No need to worry. Whew.
And then? We headed to J's and relaxed. And then I came home and took a fatty nap. Spectating is hard work, yo.
Congrats to all of the runners. You guys are an inspiration! You didn't let a few raindrops or torrential downpours bring you down. You stayed strong...you kicked ass. You rock!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*Thanks to Ryan for the word Spectathon
And Everyone Kicked Ass.
I started the day off by dropping J off at the start. He claimed he was going to run a 4:50 marathon. I knew he was full of crap and estimated a 4:30.
Then I high-tailed it to mile 21.5 (mile 5 of the TC10 course) to meet up with my runner girls that weren't racing. Ruth, Karen, Claudia and I cheered, held signs, and rang the cowbell like there was no tomorrow as we cheered on Kim, JD, Cindy, Val, Mary, Melissa, Melissa, Jayne and Emily. Everyone looked so great, so strong. YAY!
And I think the 10-milers liked my sign - "Your feet hurt because you're KICKING SO MUCH ASS". We got lots of smiles and laughs and comments.
After all of our runners passed, we zipped off to try and catch our girlies again. We made it to mile 8.5ish in time to see everyone but Super Speedy Val. By this time, the ominous clouds overhead put their money where their mouth was...and the sky opened and the rain poured down. But our runners stayed strong, even in the pouring rain. Because they rock.
My hair, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. Curly hair + rain + jumping around like a crazy person...I don't even want to do the math. Suffice it to say, it wasn't pretty.
By this time, we were cold and wet. I needed coffee. Please don't get between Ally and her caffeine. So we hit up the Caribou and then headed to CVS to get umbrellas before heading back to mile 21.5.
We arrived in time to see some of the super stud rock star marathon speedsters run by, and I ran into triathlete/runner/blog-stalker Ryan. :)
We huddled under our umbrellas, cheered, rang cowbells and tried to stay warm.
Before I knew it, the rain had stopped and the frequency of runners was picking up. The cheering began in earnest.
Karen's boyfriend came whizzing by and looked fantastic.
Emily's boyfriend came whizzing by and looked fantastic.
I'd been stalking J's progress on my Blackberry...he was running just under a 9:15 pace. Let's do the math. That's close to...hmmm...carry the one...a 4 HOUR MARATHON. 4:50 my ass!! This guy is a genetic freakshow. It's just not fair.
J came whizzing by...also looking fantastic. High spirits, lots of energy, running strong.
Anyway. I bid my posse farewell...and headed to the finish.
Traffic sucked. His predicted finish time was just before noon...right as I was parking my car.
I hustled to the finish line and was getting close to the end...and I heard them call his name as he crossed the line with a finish time of 4:07. At least I hadn't missed him completely!
I headed closer to the actual finish line and ran into fellow runners Mary and Duana - we chatted for a bit, I told Mary how fantastic she looked on the race course...and headed off in search of J.
I spotted him and we made our way over to the family meeting area to...
*bum bum bummmmmmmmmmm*
Meet His Parents.
Um, nervous much??
But they were cool, very nice. It was fine. No need to worry. Whew.
And then? We headed to J's and relaxed. And then I came home and took a fatty nap. Spectating is hard work, yo.
Congrats to all of the runners. You guys are an inspiration! You didn't let a few raindrops or torrential downpours bring you down. You stayed strong...you kicked ass. You rock!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*Thanks to Ryan for the word Spectathon
Labels: Running
9 Comments:
What funny is that when I saw you the first time as I whizzed by (I think I was whizzing) I thought "She's having a really good hair day". Of course no time to tell you that at the moment, but I made a mental note to tell you later. Reminded me of when we were running and tired 2.5 years ago, and you grunted out - "I...like....that....purse" Aaah - good fashion sense can never be overlooked no matter how tired you are!
Dang, we missed you out there! I would have loved to see that sign!!
Spectating an endurance event really does deserve it's own AG awards IMHO.
Oh, and I can totally sympathize with the curly hair issues...
*loved* having you there! are you bringin you ghd to ashland? i might have to try it out :) if you're willin....did i mention I loved having you as a spectator? i'm a fan of any tator really :P back to work now...3 more days....4 til you RACE YOUR ASS OFF! :0 no worries though!
ohhh i cant wait for my first spectathon in 12 days! hope to see you there :)
Love the sign. That is too funny!I can totally relate to the curly hair craziness.
I have more fun watching a race than running sometimes. It's fun to eat donuts and comment out loud on how tired everyone looks.
I love that sign! I have yet to spectate, but might have to steel that sign idea when I do :)
Spectating IS hard, yo. It's an endurance event all of its own. Well done out there!
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