My mom and I got in to Chicago late Friday and had a good dinner followed by a nice long sleep. This is a rarity in my world, so worth the mention. Saturday we did our own thing waiting until my sister and her two girls got into town. We got the word they were downtown so we met up with them and headed right to the expo at the McCormick Center.
Going to the expo as a spectator was more fun that I was expecting, primarily because I wanted to see this:
My name! On the wall! The Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star Finisher wall of champions! I could have skipped around that expo after seeing that, but alas, it's not socially acceptable.
I was also giddy for my sister and niece who were getting their packets and just experiencing the whole thing for the first time.
They didn't want to be there all day like I did - but I get it. Expos make me super nervous for some reason and on more than one occasion I have felt like I was going to pass out in them. So, we left and shortly later enjoyed a great italian dinner before splitting up for early bedtime.
My sister stayed with me in my room and watched me make my superstar sign. If it's one thing I knew I'd do like a boss, its make a good visible marathon sign. As a runner, the best signs are high and shiny or bright. Everyone holds white poster board and it's hard to distinguish those in big crowds. And boy, I had a winner!!!!
I generally was doing what little sisters do, sort of make fun of her, sort of support her, and sort of put the fear of God in her. haha. It was my favorite.
The next morning, I was up with her, wrote her name in big letters on her arm, and walked down all the way to entrance of the corrals. I could barely control my excitement. I had a few things I wanted to tell her...like how important it is to think about your finisher pose so you have good pictures. I was showing her examples as we walked to her amusement/irritation. And that a good mantra is nice to have ready, and I shared some of my favorites. Then mostly that I knew she could do it.
And I have to say, when we hugged it out and she went on her way, I thought I'd feel sad that I wasn't running. This was the very first marathon I have ever been to in which I wasn't running. But I wasn't. I was relishing the "support crew" role. I was going out solo because my mom and other niece wanted to stay more around the central area. That is one of the great parts about this course, its basically 3 out and backs to the center city, so if you don't want to take public transportation you can easily still get to a few locations.
But I wanted to get out farther where the crowds were more manageable. And, where I recall needed a boost myself. I bolted out to get to my first spot, because my niece was in the first wave. She is a little running superstar and her half time of upper 1:20s got her in a pretty good corral. I ended up going to the 4 1/2 mile marker first thanks to a friend of mine from high school who lives there and gave me exactly perfect directions from every L platform, with spots for coffee or snacks. Shout out to you, Liz!! Your info was amazing!
My niece had mentioned she was just going to "take it easy" and run with the 3:30 group (eyeroll). And at 4 1/2 miles, she was right there.
I knew in my gut this was short lived, because she is pretty competitive and also 8 minute miles is quite slow for her. I then walked to the 10 mile spot and waited for her to pass, but missed her. I knew it. She sped up. The tracker showed she had moved up to 7:40 pace. I waited for my sister because I thought at 10 miles she could use a friendly face. Just before she got there - I happened to see one of my sorority sisters, who I had been tracking. I screamed her name and to my delight, she elbowed her way over and gave me a huge hug and we took a selfie. :)
I saw my sis and she was looking strong. It was a great day for running (upper 50s) and I had the sense things would go pretty well for a long while, anyway.
After that I bolted down to the 24 mile marker. Yes, by this point, my niece was already at mile 20. (mile 20!) And one of her splits was 7:22. Good God. I was barely there in time - but I caught her! I yelled her name and she put her arms up like "yeah, I don't get the big deal" as she cruised to her finish. Her last mile was a 7:12 "because I just had a lot of energy left." (more eyeroll) She finished in 3:20 and placed SECOND in her age group of 16-19 year olds. I was so proud of her. Truly - its fun to watch someone with such a natural gift. And since she's 15 minutes under her BQ, looks like I get to spectate for her again in 2018!!
I had enough time to go back a few blocks to wait for my sister at mile 21 in Chinatown. In fact, I was getting pretty hungry - so I popped into to one of the many restaurants for a quick few dumplings. I also took this picture because I wanted to torment my sister that while she was slogging it out I was happily eating dumplings with my fancy sign. haha.
I found a good spot on the route and started yelling her name. It took a while to find her, so I knew she was slowing down a bit. I saw her and got to tell her that her daughter had finished so amazingly, and was A-ok. She was relieved to hear that and now, I think, could focus more on getting her own butt 5 miles further down the road. She looked like you typically do at mile 21, but had her head down and was moving forward.
I went back the few blocks to the 40K mark and waited. I know from experience this is a tough, tough spot. So I made the decision when I spotted her, to ditch the sign and start jogging next to her along the edge. She was still doing great, but I knew mentally where she was at, having been there many times. So I ran ahead like 10 feet and started jumping up and down and yelling to the crowd to cheer for my sister! I was yelling "cheer for Crystal!" - and the crowd started screaming her name as she passed by. It was probably obnoxious, but loads of fun for me. I could tell she was smiling in here eyes, even though she didn't seem to have the energy to express it on her face. After a half mile of that I had to get back behind the barrier...but by then I knew she was golden. And she was - a 4:26 finish for her first marathon!
We caught up to each other and after a while ended up going to one of our favorite places to eat before heading out of town. My sister was doing remarkably well. And my niece looked like she just had a short jog in the park.
It was such a fun time. I was a super fan for sure. I didn't just cheer for them, I was yelling for everyone with their name written or a had their country's flag. As a runner, you really do remember awesome fans...and in fact they can truly lift you when you're in a rough patch. I kept thinking about some of those who had helped me. Three of my favorites:
During one of my Bank of America Chicago Marathons, I was getting pretty hot, and this African-American woman crouched all the way down and started pulling her arms looking right at me saying "Come on now, you can do it. Let's go!" It made me feel so strong and put me in such a good frame of mind.
At around mile 24 of the BMW Berlin Marathon, I was struggling. It was getting hot in the sun. I had been dumping water on my head but was on target to hit my goal of under 4:15. I looked over at the crowd and made eye contact with this younger man holding a beer leaning over the railing. He smiled and gave me this over exaggerated wink. It made me laugh so hard, because obviously I was dying and looking like a drenched rat. It lifted my spirits just in time. I made my cut-off by a nose in 4:14.
During the Tokyo Marathon I was feeling a bit lonely because I was focused a lot on my time goal, and there were obviously fewer Americans in the crowd. And then I saw this one Japanese young girl start waving at me, screaming in Japanese. I was so confused until she flipped her phone over to reveal an American flag phone case. Her show of support for me brought tears to my eyes in an otherwise "all about business" race for me.
Being able to be that person for others was so rewarding. I'm not sure that its better than running them....but it's a very close second. And you get to eat dumplings.
