Monday, November 8, 2010

Spectating the Mason Half

Sunday, track-BW3s-and-otherwise buddy Roman ran his first half marathon: the former Mason Fall Golden Mini (15K) turned into the Mason Half Marathon. And he did a great job too! He came in 12th in his age group and 43rd overall. 7:35 pace...Not bad!! Congrats, Roman!

We saw Roman start and then headed over to a spot that was around the 4 and 10 mile, since it was partially an out-and-back course. Spectating was fun. We took Dexter to help rally the runners :)  A lot of people glanced at him and smiled, as he shivered in his plaid coat. Why on earth that dog gets so cold with all of the blubber he has to keep him warm is unknown to me. Greg and I took turns running him every now and then to warm him back up.

The other highlight of spectating was chatting with another spectator, Meredith. She joined us at our spot. Her twin sister, Leslie, was running her first half this day also. Greg, Erin, me and Meredith talked the entire time. Looking back, it was crazy how much we actually discussed in the time it took Roman to run 8 or 9 miles. Meredith is from one of the Carolinas (I forget which now). Her sister lives in Columbus and they drove down for the race. Leslie is also leaving for a 2 year stint in the Peace Corps in Guinea, Africa – where she will have no running water or electricity. Meredith does research on Autism, but doesn't do much actual interaction. It is more data crunching from the parents' info. Her parents are divorced and her Dad has done Boston. She ran cross country in school (I don't think college) and thinks a 10K is very very far. :) She and Greg had a lot in common about running. Her mom is a pediatrician and her dad a chiropractor. Her boyfriend is in school to become an art director. She is a vegetarian. She had a book with her she is reading that we all talked about, around the subject of food and good healthy eating. She also had a box of Kleenex in her bag, which made me smile. Someone else in the world prepares themselves with Kleenex at all times. Meredith was really fun to talk to. All in between cheers of "woohoo looking good! way to go runners/walkers! keep it up!"  I was a little sad to leave!

The finish line had some bumpin' music playing, and Roman crossed the line to "California Girls".  Gag!! I was dancing to keep warm. And to entertain anyone that passed. But I think the most success I had was embarrassing Greg. :D  Overall, spectating was very very fun and inspiring! It's been the year of the half. We went to Columbus for Erin's, Roman came to Cincy for mine and Casey's, and Erin and I went to Mason for Romans... and Greg was at all of them :) He gets the award for Best Spectator. Let's call it Best 'Tator.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

that was very nice of you all, and Meredith had someone to hang with and enjoy conversation. Mom