Chapter 2 page 410 - During the race: friends and fun

As you've all gathered by now, I ran this race alone.  MOA was in a corral ahead of me and I had encouraged her to run the race she had trained to do.  She was awesome.  She did her first half in 2:53 - wow!!!  Congrats MOA!  That's awesome!!!  That's real proof of all of those HOT training runs, hard work, and inner strength to push!!!  I was so honored to be part of her first half . . . although, I crossed 9 minutes later.

Many of you who read my blog know that I'm extremely social.  I talk twice as fast and much as I run.  For me, running has to be social. I'm not the kind of gal that turns to running for some inner problem solving or "me" time - nope, I run in order to hang out with my friends, laugh, and have fun chatting about stuff!  So during a race, no surprise I'm a social butterfly (hence the tutu, so serve as a topic of conversation).  At each mile mark I hooted and celebrated like a winning coach on a soccer field!  I talked to dozens and dozens of participants, spectators, police officers, and race volunteers.  Below are some interesting stories of my encounters:

Story #1:  "Hey Fort Wayne, get moving!" -

At about mile 10 while listening to my ipod this man ran past me and said "Hey Fort Wayne (my hometown), you better get movin'!"  I paused my ipod and said "HUH?"  Then he repeated it and I asked how he knew I was from FW.  He said I had spoken to his wife and her friend back around mile 3 and she had told him that he should catch up to me because I was a lot of fun!  I asked what his wife's name was and that wasn't ringing any bells so I asked "Where are you from?" (that's one of my standard "get to know a complete stranger running in a destination race next to you" kinda questions) -he said "Auburn, WI" and I totally remembered talking to his wife.  The remaining 3 miles we were back and forth but mostly he was kicking my tail.  Every now and then I would get close and yell at him, "Hey Auburn, Fort Wayne is in the house!!!!".  He would always speed up.  At the end, I gunned it and he said that I beat him - not so sure, but nonetheless, it was certainly made the last 3 miles a lot of fun and will be retained as a fun race memory.

 Story #2 "Keeping Pace" -

These 2 blue shirted awesome ladies were fantastic fun for several miles (maybe miles 4-6 or so).  These 2 ladies were power walkers - and man were they moving!!!  Since I run then walk, they would pass me when I was walking then I would pass them as I ran.  They said at one point that they knew if they could see me that they were keeping pace.  At about mile 7 we all had to turn a corner and I really lost most of the people that had been around me up till that point.  At the end, I was standing around and bam, there they were - quick photo and congratulatory exchange - FUN!

 Story #3 (sorry no photo) "Cheese Head Motivation" -

At mile 8 (or so), I was still on the phone with "C" and was integrating into a new group of people.  We all know how annoying it is to have a fellow racer on the phone and although I was this annoying person, I tried to play it off and hung up from "C" and said aloud to the group around me, "Sorry to have been on the phone, but I had to call my running coach and tell he I was kicking butt in Chicago.  She said to tell you all HI and good luck."  Everyone seemed to forgive me and a man with a cheese head hat immediately said, "Come on Princess move those feet!"  He'd yell out things like "Pick it up Princess."  He was fun and nice and super encouraging.  He was an avid runner who was trotting along with 2 women perhaps as their coach or pacer or something of the sort.  He was a lot of fun. I lost him during the crazy mile 9 water station.  Wish I would have had a finish line photo of him, but even so, it still makes for a fun race memory!