spectating the spinx runfest

on saturday i set a pr in race spectating. until now, i've only spectated for a couple of josh's 5k's, but this weekend, he, my sister and a friend (kristen) ran their first half-marathons and i served as the sherpa. kristen was concerned that i would mind holding her sweats for her but i reassured her that it has been done for me many times and it's the least i could do.

the two hardest parts of spectating are finding your runner(s) and coordinating other spectators in your party. i don't know all the roads downtown so i was a little harried in the beginning trying to give directions over the phone. luckily it was sorted out quickly so we could get on with the spectating.

after sending my pupils off to the start line, i headed off for my first spot. unfortunately the course isn't set up to catch too many spots either by walking or driving (in my opinion). i only caught the runners in the first mile and again after mile 3, before boogying over to catch them again in mile 11.

i labored on some signs friday night but was too shy to unfold them at my first stop. lame, i know, but i was also the sherpa and photographer so that was my excuse. once my parents got there i was able to hand off one sign to my mom which made it at bit easier. "her" sign got more comments from the runners; one guy even said "today is looking like that day", but most of them said they loved the sign or "that's right (their age) and still going!"

quote on pink sign from frayed laces

i only held the white one up at mile 11.5-ish when half-marathoners were running by. obviously the full-marathoners would not have appreciated it, and no one would have liked it at mile 1 or 3. at my 11+mi station i also saw fellow blogger kathrin running strong and an old rowing teammate (now avid cyclist, dabbling in marathons). due to my lack of juggling posters+camera skills, i didn't get photos of either of them. i also completely missed seeing my co-worker who blazed his way to a 1:59, after talking all week about hoping for a 2:15 "best-case scenario". sandbagger!

josh is all decked out in sugoi; courtesy of his blogging wife

anyway they all ran excellent first-half-marathons and even claimed they enjoyed themselves; kristen did admit to wanting to cut the course at one point where the course loops back on itself. even though it was only his first marathon, josh set multiple goals for himself (i've rubbed off on him) but he achieved his "a" goal running a 1:49! jocelyn was hoping for a 2-2:10 and ran a 2:08, and kristen didn't want to end up in the medical tent - she ran a 2:20 (those are gun times, chip times are mia). great runs all around!

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as for my own running - i was a little short on miles for the week but again, the mucus factory was pulling overtime.

week in review (10/25 - 10/31)
total miles: 22.60
time spent running: ~ 3 hrs 30 mins
avg pace: 9:23
off days: 3

• mon: sick and tired
• tue: easy 4.1 on the golf course
• wed: weights and abs
• thu: easy 6.3 trying not to choke on mucus
• fri: easy 3.2 squeezed in a busy day
• sat: umm "walking"; aka spectating at various spots for ~4 hours
• sun: long run - 9mi; saw an enormous spider and set a new world record in the high-jump

october 2010
total mileage: 112.45
time spent running: 17:27:00
days off: 11
abs/yoga: 11 ab workouts/2 yoga sessions
avg temp: 69.81*