The Expo Yesterday – a shot at goofinees:
Me, Katie, Eileen, and Ed.
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Today is a tough day. I’m proud of my friends who are headed out into a chilly morning for a 26.2 mile tour of the DC area… or because this is a Rock N Roll event, a 13.1 mile tour with an added kinda boring 13.1 mile almost-an-afterthought stretch. The RnR events are notoriously half-marathoner focused as that’s where the numbers…and the money… can be found.
Indeed, the start line for the marathon this morning was downright quiet. There were the typical announcers, the national anthem, the bannered branded arch marking the start.
But I don’t think it was just my conflicted feelings and lingering pain that had me feeling a little underwhelmed. I think maybe these RnR events just aren’t my thing anymore.
And yet I fully acknowledge this is partly due to not running this morning. I woke up feeling kinda ok… and regretting my decision NOT to run. But a few steps out of bed and the stabbing pain in my hip and left leg told me I couldn’t run 26.2 miles… heck, I was having issues climbing 12 stairs to get to my friends’ kitchen. It was the kind of pain that reverberates through the body, inducing low-grade nausea and rattling even my teeth with a wave of pain. And that pain would only grow as I walked with my friends to the start line in downtown DC.
Man, I’m jealous and envious of these folks. But mostly I’m proud of them. Ed and Eileen both have nagging injuries themselves that they’re trying to muscle through. Katie just did something recently to her back but she’s determined to run. I feel like a loser for not rallying and giving it a go… and to be clear, my friends were always supportive of my decision to DNS… did not start… as the limping hobble I had adopted as my runner’s gait virtually assured me a DNF (did not finish). But even so it was hard last night at a pasta dinner to have the waiter wish us all well in the marathon and me wanting to correct him about my role.
I haven’t actively tried to cheer anyone along a race since Meg’s NYC run in 2016. It’s super hard. Today, as then, is a great reminder that I should always be more appreciative of the folks who come out to cheer me on. There’s a funny racing meme sign series that plays on the work involved in cheering:
- I stayed up all night making this sign.
- Run faster; my arms are getting tired.
You think running a marathon is hard? - Try holding this sign for four hours!
- ETC.
But you know what? It IS hard to see people along the course. Stressful too. I know Ed got talked into running marathons when Eileen pointed out how many miles he was putting in trying to see her at races. I think at Nashville he did 18 miles just running about to see her.
I’m not doing anywhere near that. After the start line I tried to make it to the 2 mile marker but failed in my hobble. I got in my car and drove to what I thought was the 10 mile marker. Turned out I was way off. But once I regained my bearings and GPS signal, I made it to the corner of K street and 4th to park and walk to the course to cheer folks on.
I’m trying to see my “peeps,” these good running folks I’ve met across the world and across time. I want to cheer them on as they’re amazing. But it’s a bittersweet task. I don’t think that makes me a bad person; I think that just makes me human.
And because the marathon field is smallish for a big city race, and thanks to some pre-race coordination and mid-race texting, I was able to see some folks:
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A little while later, I caught up with them at the finish. These people just put forth s herculean effort to run 26.2 miles in our nation’s capital. Though I’m a reluctant cheerleader for my own selfish reasons, I am humbled and proud to have cheered them on.
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Congratulations to all runners in any race or doing any training today. And my best wishes for a speedy recovery to all those runners currently struggling with an injury; may discretion be the better part of PRing.
