It's been a few days (thanks, work) and I'm still pretty much on the post-marathon high. I really could just echo all of the thoughts and feelings of
Angelina's post on this event, because she captured the entire day SO well. But I guess I need to wrap up things from my perspective, so here goes...
I do have to say, this was a "first" for me... signing up for a race with zero goals or intentions of my own, and dedicating all of my training and race day effort to supporting someone else. It was a first, and I really really enjoyed it. It took all of the mundane-ness and difficulty of training and marathon-ing, and completely changed the motivation to make it almost a non-issue. Are long miles hard? Duh, yes, of course they are. But for this race, none of that mattered - I had "bigger things" to do than to focus on anything of myself.
Pre-race:
We arrived plenty early, no issue getting there or parking. It was chilly but not unbearable (around 40F) so we donned our "throw-away" jackets and were happy to find a heater near our start corral.
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| "Throw-away" jackets |
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| Pretty buildings in the pre-dawn hours |
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| Heeeeeat |
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| In the start corrals! |
The first half of the race honestly flew by... I'll admit, we started out too fast and the first 13.1 was solidly sub-10 pace. Oops. We enjoyed the city as the sun rose, chatted about various things, and saw the "cheer squad" on several occasions.
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| Seeing B the first time |
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| Skyline selfie! |
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| The most adorable sign-holders! |
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| Seeing Brandi again! |
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| This was getting towards the end... but still smiling. |
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| Somewhere earlier on the course... |
There were over 30 of the "professional" race photos that were taken, and my first thought when scrolling through was just how HAPPY we look (with very few exceptions). Such joy of running, and to be able to share it with someone else!
I've adopted A's #10kTuesday team as my own from a distance and through various relay races, and it's just so awesome to see the love and support they bring. Cannot say enough good things about what it means to have a team of people rooting for you!
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| Cheering! |
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| This entire volunteer group was waiting for Angelina! |
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| Sweet, sweet, finish line |
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| Finisher Selfie! |
So, so proud. 😍
After the race, we hung out in the finish area and stretched/relaxed/chugged chocolate milk (sooooo good). Unfortunately I had to get home for dinner, so I didn't have much time to recover before a quick burger & beer, shower, and hopping into the car to drive home. SUCH a great race and experience, and couldn't have asked for a better friend to share it ALL with. 😄
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