Cindy has been running for over 2 years now (maybe 3) and decided last year she wanted to run the Chicago Marathon - and here she is - goal accomplished!! A marathon is 26.2 miles with thousands of participants AND spectators. While I have not run a marathon, I did run cross country in high school and did some "races" outside of school, but this was the first time I was a spectator. Now, from being a runner I know the important role spectators can play - for me their cheering, screaming, clapping, etc. always give me that extra boost to keep going, even a smile while I ran, and then at the end....it allowed me to finish full-speed like it was nobody's business!! I kept all those things in mind while being a spectator for Cindy. It was so awesome being one in the crowd having a runner to cheer for, but it was one of those times where you cheered for all the runners too!!
One story about that - at mile 12 we were waiting for Cindy to come and we were there a little early - about 20 minutes or so. Next to us was this couple, probably in their late 50's/early 60's cheering on all these people. At first I was like..WOW they know a TON of runners! "Go Dana!" "Go Jim!" "Go Stephanie!" "Go Paul!" .... what they heck?! Then I realized a lot of the runners have their names on their shirts or names of people they're running for. Well, that's what this couple was using to cheer them on. At one point the lady turned to me and said, "Do you know a runner in the race?" and I replied, "Yea, my sister is in it! How about you??" She said..."Nope! We don't know a soul in it, we just LOVE coming to cheer on everyone because this is something we could never do! It's just so fun!!"
I thought that was just the coolest thing! They didn't know anyone but they came out to cheer others on who were taking on a challenge they knew they couldn't! If in our lives we acted more like this couple on a regular basis...wow, what a great change we'd make and an awesome support system we'd be for each other!! At least it gave me something to think about! I always cheer on and encourage my students, but sometimes I forget to do this with everyone else I encounter in my life.
Anyways...back to the excitement of the marathon!!
We got up at 3:55, at my parents by 5:25, downtown by 6:30. And it was PACKED with runners and spectators .....
We found Cindy before the race, which we weren't sure if we'd be able to meet up quickly, but we got lucky!!!
Then Cindy was off to get in place and we were off to mile 2!
It is really not a simple task to find your runner during the race - you have to know their estimated time they want to finish in and keep track of that pace time leader (person running with a big sign that says pace times), and you have to know really well what they're wearing, what side of the street they will run on, and then it's all about keeping your eyes peeled for them. We were all rookies at this so at mile 2 Cindy found us first haha - ran right in front of us scream, "HEEEYYY, HEEEYYY!!!!!" haha - it was pretty funny cause we had no idea she was right there until she was!
So off we went to mile 12. We got there early, had some breakfast, and then look-out number 2 began.
At this particular time we saw her she was taking a fast-walk break from running. Nearly all runners do this/have to do this. She looked great though and was still smiling!!
Then we had a bit of time because the next place we would see her at was mile 26 - just before that .2 is left! Jack of course, the ice-cream obsess-or, smelled it...sure enough down the block we found a 31 Flavors/D&D - in we went! Mom and I got Chai Latte, Dad got a doughnut, and Jack...you guessed it, 10:30 AM and he had an ice cream!!!
On we went to mile 26! It was quite a hike to get there - but we did it!
(there she is: pink tank and gray capris)
Then we hiked back to the meet-up spot where we found her and Jason (who walked a lot faster than us to get to her first). She was smiling, tired, but happy!!!
CONGRATS!!!!!! AWESOME JOB!!!!
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