So. Sometime in between me leaving for college and the last several years, my mom has got into running in a big way. At this point, I think she has run maybe five or six marathons. This is a particularly astounding feat, given the fact that after she ran her first 10K nine years ago, she swore she would never, EVER run again. hahahaha! Good one, mom! ;)
Well, raising five girls while teaching 2nd grade full time tends to fill one's schedule rather rapidly, so this year my mom didn't have time to train for a spring marathon. So instead, she got her fill of runner-culture (make no mistake, runners DO have their own culture...) by volunteering at an aid station in a local marathon.
There was water. There was gatorade. There were bananas and oranges and packets of GU and IcyHot. Oh yeah, and there were me, my mom, and my little sister all chillin' at mile 23 waiting for those runners to get in.
The first runner–get this–came past our aid station at 8:25. The race started at 6 am. He ran a two and a half hour marathon people!!! I am in awe!
It was fun to see the variety of runners who came to our station... our youngest runner was 16 I think, and our oldest was in his 70s! Some people showed up to our station looking like they could run another 23 miles without breaking a sweat, and some runners showed up looking... ready to be done with the marathon already. I was so very impressed, though, with all the effort and training these runners put in for this event–I think only one person was unable to finish due to injury!
Oh yeah. And there was a guy named Hajime from Japan. He is trying to run 1,000 marathons with at least one in every continent of the world. But did I mention... he's an ecoMarathoner? That means he runs marathons... FOR THE SCENERY! He participates in marathons because he likes visiting new places, so he stops and takes pictures along the way when he feels like it. He visits with the race volunteers. He really enjoys himself. So much so, in fact, that he was the very last runner to come through our aid station. A little over four hours after the start of the race. We sure enjoyed having him, though! I think he was by far the happiest, most friendly runner we saw the whole day! :) His happy, slow-and-steady pace reminded me of a scripture quoted recently in general conference. Hebrews 12:1.
"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us."
That's about it. We had some trouble with the Excursion after the race, but everything worked out and we were able to get back to our air-conditioned house by about noon. To all you runners out there, whether you be marathoners, half-marathoners or 5K-ers... you guys ROCK!
Love muchly,
me.
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