How many people do you know who run marathons as training runs? That's what my little sis' Tara did yesterday. A friend in her running group wanted someone to run the Marine Corps Marathon with, another friend was injured and couldn't use his bib and Tara needed to run 20+ miles anyway. Under sunny skies, she and her friend ran 26.2 through the nation's capital arriving at the Iwa Jima memorial at four hours, forty eight minutes--quite a bit slower than she will run the Philadelphia Marathon in November. Tara is "bringing it" all the way to Boston where we will all gather in April to drink a pint in her honor. I think Tony would approve.
I am so proud of you, T!
"Fit as a fiddle and gorgeous too--that lucky Lawrence Lauderdale"
Holy Cow! In order to qualify for Boston, she has to consistantly run 8 1/2 minute miles. I hope they give straight jackets at the finish line...just kidding :)
ReplyDelete"Tara is "bringing it" all the way to Boston where we will all gather in April to drink a pint in her honor." Hmmm... it'll be hard to run with all that pressure on my shoulders. ;) Just kidding, thanks for the nice post. I'm not sure if Philly is going to be my race, but I plan to leave it out there nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Marine Corps marathon this time around. Since I wasn't racing the marathon, I was able to really relax and take in the sites of the race that I always miss in my race induced misery when I'm running hard. The sites in DC were beautiful and the crowd support was great. My friend made a shirt with her name on it and it always made me smile when people yelled for her. It's actually just kind of amazing, how complete strangers come together and encourage each other and really want one another to succeed during a marathon. The signs that people brought down were amusing and I laughed out loud a few times. I wish I could remember all of them or had taken pictures, but I was, well, running. There was one that said, "Sweat is sexy" to which my friend responded, "Well, then I got a WHOLE LOT of sexy going on right now." I also remember passing a girl holding a sign that said, "If it were easy, I would do it!" That made me smile too.
I also loved running with someone else. I always kind of wondered why pacers did it. You don't get paid to be a pacer and the thought of running 26.2 miles basically for other people, strangers, didn't make sense to my competitive self. I always want to go out and run best times each time I run. (I don't, but I'm competitive like that.) But running with my friend, helping her finish with a new PR 18 minutes under her last one, encouraging her through the last few miles when I know she wanted to stop, having her tell me she hated me, it was all amazing. I felt such pride crossing the finish line. It might not have been my best time, but it was much more fulfilling than most of my other races. And when I got an email from her later thanking me, it really made me understand why people sign up to be pacers. I could definitely see something like that in my future.
Anyway, there is the marathon run down. It was a fantastic experience and really got me excited for my marathon in a few weeks. I don't know if I'll make Boston, but I'm sure going to enjoy a nice big Philly cheese steak after the race. :)