And They Paid To Do This?!

Yesterday was the Twin Cities Marathon. I've run this one 3 times and now that I'm on the "50 marathons in 50 different states" quest I doubt I'll run it again anytime soon. This year I opted to cheer on some TNT family members (i.e. teammates), a coworker and another friend. For a couple of them it was going to be their first marathon each. As with many things, your first time is a memorable one. I still remember #1 better than #2, 3 and 5 and just as well as #4, 6, 7 and 8.

This wasn't going to be just a casual spectating day. They were going to be out there for 26.2 miles. I wasn't going to take it easy and just cheer for them once at one spot and that be it. I made plans with Amy to spend Saturday night at her house as she lives in S. Mpls and close to the course (you may remember her from previous posts when I took over her house during my triathlon weekend. I might have to start paying her some rent. Her place has become Race Central for me.). Amy and I have done a couple of marathons together so we know what it's like to be the runners so we wanted to use that knowledge on the other side of the ropes and spectate.

We got up early to watch the early 10 mile race that was also being conducted with a start time an hour earlier than the full marathon. This race drew interest because it was the Women's National Championship for that distance so that meant the best runners in the nation at that distance were going to be racing. There was a lot of local buildup for this race because 2 of the potential winners had strong MN roots. Amy and I drove to the 2.5 mile spot on this course because it was close to her house and watched and cheered from there. When the leaders came by they were flying! Their race pace is probably not much slower than my 100 yard, 100% effort sprint and they seemed to be doing it with ease. We stayed for awhile and watched most of the other 5,000 people running the 10 miler and saw many familiar faces.

It soon became time to go though as we wanted to get into our first position along the marathon course at mile 7 before those runners came by. We initially were going to ride our bikes from Amy's house to this mark, but since we stayed and cheered longer than we thought for the 10ers we opted to drive to there instead. Turned out to be the best decision we made all day! We got there in plenty of time, but as soon as we did it started to rain. No worries though, we were prepared and had our umbrellas.

As we waited it started to rain harder...and then a little harder...and then a little harder. There were even a couple of lightning flashes and thunder claps. I've lucked out in my 8 marathons and have never had to run in the rain. The only thing I could think of while standing there was thank God I'm turning 40 in a few weeks and am training for another marathon on that day otherwise I might've been out there doing this one with my friends!

The runners started coming by, the leaders, then gradually bigger packs and then before we knew it the road was packed with the 11,000 runners who signed up for the race. I'm sure there were some who didn't even start when they saw what the weather was going to be like, but not our girls! They're sweet, but they don't melt when they get a little wet.

First came Dana and Kris right on cue at the pace they should be, smiling and actually looking like they were enjoying themselves! Luckily they saw me first and yelled out otherwise I may have been standing there all morning waiting to spot them. Shawna came by a few minutes later, gave her an extra ring of the cowbell and then looked for my final personal runner I was cheering for (all the while cheering for everyone else who was going by). This last one was Suni, my coworker. She was probably the one I was most nervous for so as more and more runners went by and I didn't see her I became more and more nervous and anxious. Did she already drop? Did she even start because of the rain? It came to the point when we couldn't wait around any longer if we wanted to get to our next spot and catch those who had already gone by so we left. Sorry I missed you Suni.

We drove back to Amy's house to get some cheer supplies and the rain was starting to let up. I opted to jump on my bike at this point, regardless of what the weather was going to do the rest of the day. I figured with my familiarity with the course and the way traffic would be right around the course, biking would be quickest and allow for multiple stopping points. I put on my rain pants, grabbed my Spiderman backpack I was using for the day (thanks Conner!) stocked full of baggies of fruit, pretzels, umbrellas, cowbell and homemade posters and was off!

I cruised down to Mile 14 and waited for my girls to come by (funny, for some reason my main focus was on a handful of female runners. Hmmm...:)). I figured I had some time so I whipped out the posters and held them up, one for each of my peeps. Being of obnoxious (but effective) neon colors with big block letters I hoped they would see them from a distance and get a charge out of them. The one I made for Kris just had her last name on it - MIELKE is Amazing! A few minutes before they came by some guy ran by and said "hey, thanks". Not thinking anything of it other than that was kinda weird I just replied "sure, you bet". After the race was over I looked up their results and saw that there were 2 other runners with the last name Mielke so apparently one of them thought the sign was for him too. Sir, if it helped you at all at that point, then yes, the sign was for you too!

Kris and Dana came by right on pace target, got a good smile out of both of them and they kept truckin' along! After they went by, I just flipped the signs over and had one ready for Shawna and Suni (hopefully I'd see her this time). Shawna came by next at about the same interval as back at mile 7 so she was right on target too. I threw her a bag of fruit without her breaking stride and she motored on. Now it was Suni's turn. Where are you Suni? Another minute or two went by and all of a sudden I see this blur come shooting over to me from the side. It was Suni! Yeah, she did make it and was doing great! I got a quick sweaty hug and she was back on her way.

My next spot was just before Mile 22, after the last major hill and right before Summit Ave, a long, seemingly-never-ending, 4 mile straightaway that has a slight incline to it that seems like you're trekking up Mt. Everest at that point in the race. D & K maintained their front-running status and were first upon me. They were both still looking strong! Kris was one of the rookies coming into this marathon so every step she took after the 20 mile mark was a personal record and new distance for her. She looked like she had done this before! Check out her blog and marathon recap here. She grabbed a bag of pretzels at this point to replenish some sodium and like the Energizer bunnies they just kept on going! Suni and Shawna came by separately so I was able to attend to each one individually and run with them for a few paces to assess their well-being. There was no quit in anyone and they knew the finish was getting nearer!

After having done this marathon 3 times I knew Summit Ave was more about the mental toughness than the physical aspect at that point. I cruised down a couple of miles and positioned myself for 1 last cheer spot to hopefully give my girls a little boost to help carry them through. I got out the posters one last time and knew this time if they were looking up and ahead at all and not down at their feet they'd see and recognize them from quite a ways away. They all gave me a smile and/or a thumbs up so there was no doubt they were going to finish.

The matter of finishing was never really an option or thought for any of them. The thing that amazed me though about each of them was that they were still right on target or faster despite running in the rain the first 10 miles! Earlier in the day I thought that was going to slow everyone down. Not these amazing runners though!

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the Finish Line to see any of them cross as the crowd got thicker the closer I got and I had to weave and eventually walk my bike through the pack and around. I was able to meet up with Dana and Kris though and their perma-grins. We had someone snap this picture of us. I laughed when I got it emailed to me from Kris today because of the rip in my rain pants. Yes, that's a rip, my fly isn't open. I had shorts on underneath. Getting on and off my bike all day and swinging my leg up and over I ripped 'em at some point and didn't even know it until Dana pointed it out after the picture was taken. Thanks for waiting to tell me! :)

Also, notice the blue sky after they're done racing! Murphy's Law.

The night ended appropriately with a group dinner with 9 of us, mostly runners from the day celebrating their accomplishment. Big meals, a couple of drinks and most definitely some dessert. The only thing missing was a little dancing to see how the legs felt at that point. After your Ironman, Dana and Kris, we're definitely going out dancing!

After watching these ladies, and everyone else, it has fired me up a little more for my marathon coming up. I wanted to be out there running with them! That's a good sign and hopefully I'll be able to do as well as they all did!