Marathon Recap: My Cheering Section

I used to believe I couldn’t (as in COULD. NOT.) run a race without at least one person along the course that I knew to cheer me on.  I believed it in a scientific way that it was documented in a book somewhere that it wasn’t possible. 

I have definitely matured from that thought and run through many-o-races without a person support system.  But I have to say….having your own personal cheering section for a marathon is pretty awesome!

It was simply amazing to have my mom & dad come to Nashville from Richmond to cheer me on!  They showed up with posters & noisemakers in hand and I could definitely SEE them from about 100 yards out and my mom sure does love her clapper noisemaker.  (So much so that when I saw them at Mile 11 my dad said to me from the sides “I’m going to tear your mom’s arm off if she doesn’t stop clapping this thing!”)  I love them.

My friend Jill was camped out at Mile 3 with her travel coffee mug in hand sitting in her Virginia Tech tailgate chair.  She stayed there for a bit and I saw her again when I came back around at Mile 6.   This time as I was running up towards her I noticed she had made a new friend. Nothing about this surprised me.  She was chatting up with one of the Police officers there doing traffic control.  (Also, she later saw this same Police officer about a week later. Only Jill! ;) )  I saw Jilly again around Mile 12 and then finally one last time at Mile 25.  She was waiting for me to run the last mile with me, which was simply the best thing since it’s fairly uphill.  We chatted & laughed as a prepared to come down the finish line shoot.  I’ll be forever grateful for her support along the way.

At the finish line, I was reunited with my parents & other friends from Nashville that showed up with more posters & lots of yelling and cheering.  THEN standing right at the cross line was my Team in Training group bringing me home and waiting for me with open arms and hugs as my foot hit that time chip line.  I was simply elated! 

I’ll forever be grateful to the friends & family that came out that chilly morning to cheer me on for almost 5 hours.  I’ll also be forever grateful to EVERYONE that texted, called, voicemailed, tweeted & facebook’ed me that day.  All of those notes touched my heart and helped me along the way.

Best Posters ever!

Love these two! <3

Love this poster from my friend Allison