My Saturday morning was life-changing, how was yours?
Maybe not as life-changing as it would have been if I'd actually been competing in the Olympic marathon trials, but still life-changing nonetheless.
I exaggerate only a little.
I mean, we found parking in downtown Houston, kitty-corner to the start, for just 5 bucks. And my car was still in the same condition when we came back. And the price had gone up to 10 bucks. So that was something special.
Oh, and maybe seeing all those amazing athletes I read about in Runner's World in the person?
Yeah, that was something special too.
I was abuzz with excitement from the time my head popped off my pillow at 5:43 am (two minutes before my alarm was to go off), all thru the drive downtown ("And Ryan Hall's going to be there and Deena Kastor and all of these other really fast people and aren't you just pumped Greg??"), and thru a freezing cold walk to the starting line ("We really should have brought our mittens...my fingers are going to fall off!").
The starting line! It was all professional and there were officials milling all about the place like busy worker ants. I snuck over and had the Gregphotographer take an awkward picture. As my friend Alisha says "Pics or didn't happen!"
Oh, it happened.
They told me to back away from the start. Ok! I had my photo anyways...and other distractions had already stolen my attention.
Runners!
Not just any kind of runners. The elites. To qualify for this marathon you have to have run another marathon in under 2:39:00 (for the women) or posted an equally stunning, respective time in a half marathon or 10k, among other things.
I was intrigued watching them jog around and stretch and prepare for the race. Just imagining what they were thinking about and feeling. Whether they thought they had a chance of qualifying or not, it was a big race!
The men's start was drawing near at this point so the Gregspectator and I laid dibs on a spot up against the barricades in prime viewing location.
But we soon found out we'd picked the wrong side.
The NBC network camera crews thought it was a great spot too and set up shop right in front of us.
But they passed out little US flags to wave so I dealt with it.
Plus, I could stand on the barricade and have the Gregcolumn add balance. So I didn't miss much.
The marathon course was laid out in a 2.2 mile loop followed by 3 8-mile loops, so it was a great course for spectators. After the men passed thru the start again and headed out on their first 8-mile loop, they started the women. You know, just 15 minutes later. Because the men were running sub 5-minute miles and stuff.
"I've never seen so many 6-packs in my life!"
One of us said it. The other was thinking it. I'll let you guess.
(if I would have said anything it would have been something of wonderment aloud about how, with so little body fat and so little coverage, they were still able to move in the cold).
The marathon went by really fast. At least for me. I was cold and hungry and didn't even care. Which is saying A LOT.
But I had these men to cheer for every 40-minutes or so.
And then these women in between.
And beautiful downtown Houston to enjoy in the mean time.
It was such a rush cheering all the athletes on. Especially the ones not at the front of the pack. They were just enjoying the event...and they had qualified so I gave them their props! Eventually the Gregtrooper was really really hungry and really really cold so we had to get him some grub.
All his idea, I assure you...
HEB food truck FTW! Best oatmeal I've had in ages.
We went back to cheering and cheering and cheering and eventually I found myself standing on the side of a hill in a prickly bush with scores of other spectators to get a decent view of the finish.
We were all enviously eying these people perched right above the finish.
It wasn't a close finish for either of the races. The winner and two runner-ups in each were distantly spaced. And by distantly I mean by ten or so seconds. The men's qualifiers all finished in the 2:09 range and the women's were around 2:25! But it was top-notch viewing, nonetheless. I mean, it's still a marathon finish line. Some athletes are celebrating.
But most are wobbling around or falling or vomiting or passing out and being carted off on a stretcher or just asking a lot of questions because they're so disoriented. (I won't post those pictures). (you're welcome). Years ago that would have just been kind of funny, but now I can relate and I felt my heart going out to them.
Wait, can we take a moment and recognize that empathy? I was feeling empathetic!!
It can happen.
Another empathetic moment. My eyes welled up in tears when I witnessed a dad, standing nearby, proudly telling everyone how his daughter was running in the marathon and going to be finishing soon. He was from a small farming community and just couldn't believe how big the whole event was. Beaming doesn't even begin to describe his countenance. He lost it when he saw her cross that finish line and the whole crowd standing on that hill started chanting for his daughter, "Nicole", even though it was a good 10 minutes after the winner had finished.
Nicole heard it and was just thrilled. It must have been a pretty special moment for them both.
I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go to the trials! There were so many amazing athletes and so many amazing stories (like Kara Goucher who just had a baby a little over a year ago and placed third!) and it was inspiring and motivating and just so darn cool to watch them all.
Sorry I pretty much wrote a book about it. But like I said, it was practically life-changing. So it deserved it.
Have a great day :-)
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