The Big Race

Yesterday Andy completed his second half-marathon and had a fantastic experience. His first one, last September in Dayton, he made all the rookie mistakes and was pooped about 2/3 through the course. This time he kept a more consistent pace and then poured it on, running negative splits for the last few miles. He said he felt really good and the weather was absolutely perfect for running. That was a relief, considering that the past week it rained consistently and the whole afternoon and evening prior to the race we had an absolute deluge.

On Friday evening we went to a tasty pasta feed with some friends who were also running the race. Carbo-loading at its finest and Andy's favorite dessert: Chocolate eclairs.

Putting on his bib and timing chip after a breakfast of champions. Sadly, this was the only "action" shot I got.

Ben and I staked out a spot on the last corner on the straightaway right before the finish line. Ben had a little bottle of Gatorade to give to Andy and he wanted to run the last little bit with him. Although we were there when he ran past, somehow we managed to miss seeing him. So sad! It was probably while we were taking this picture and it's karma coming back to bite me for being a photoholic.

This race was so much more viewer-friendly than the one in Dayton, where they erected huge barriers at the end and supporters couldn't really get close to cheer their runners. Here we could reach out and touch them. Even though we missed Andy, there's always something inspiring and exhilirating about watching a big race. Perhaps all that pumping adrenaline just can't help spilling over from the runners to the spectators.

The lady next to me told me how her daughter and son-in-law were running the race together. I said that I would have loved to do that and maybe next year. She looked at me quizzically and asked why I didn't run this time around. Perhaps she didn't see below my face, but I just patted the big six-month belly and replied that I'm not quite in top running form right now. :)