Cheering for Teammates!

Yesterday, I got up early to go cheer at "America's Friendliest Marathon," the Richmond Marathon.  I had a number of friends and teammates running and walking it, some for Team in Training, and others just because.  There was supposed to be a slight chance of showers early and then clearing, but it rained pretty steadily off and on while I was out there, and I got pretty wet.  The good news: I don't melt, and I dried off later.

I saw everyone in both races (plus several thousand people in the 8K) go by, starting with the fastest runners and ending with the slowest walkers.  I was standing at the 2 mile point just before the half and full marathon split, cheering and ringing my cowbell ("Hate the bell!" one runner said).  It was very hard to pick people out of the huge mass of humanity constantly going by at 6 - 15 feet per second.  But some friends saw me and yelled my name, and I did pick a few out.  There were 51 people from Team in Training in the races, but I didn't see them all.  Maybe some of them wore jackets over their purple shirts.

Anyhow, I had a great time cheering, and appreciated seeing so many friends out there in the rain.  Here are a few photos....

I always choke up a bit as the people pushing severely disabled kids go by at the start of the race.

At the two mile point, these two were the lead runners in the half marathon.

This guy was skipping rope the whole way!  Impressive!

At the two mile point, these two guys were flying along and leading the marathon pack.  I could not sustain their pace for .26 miles, much less for 26.2.

One of the marathoners was carrying "Old Glory."

Coach Sue (in the green) carried the sweep balloon for the half marathon.

Sharing a laugh and a smile with three teammates out doing 26.2 miles that rainy day.  Sorry about the raindrops on the camera lens, but it was pretty wet out there.

"Go Team!" Tracy was saying with a high kick!