We saw the "Elvises" running with their wigs, Marilyn with her floating white dress and an inspiring group of students run LA with kids that looked too young to have the discipline to train for a marathon, yet they were running it! Young people, old people, people running for their kids, people running barefoot, people without legs pushing their wheelchairs uphill... it was an inspiration!
Yet also inspiring was how my husband kept cheering the runners who at Mile 22, after the hardest uphill of this marathon, were starting to give in to their minds. As he said it today, he was yelling so loud so he could be louder than the runner's voice inside their heads saying "just walk a little." He has no voice now, but 9 out of 10 runners started running again with a smile.
There you have it, you never know when you will find your inspiration today. It can be in runner with a costume, in a kid with will power... or sometimes, it sleeps right next to you!
We didn't bring a camera but lots of people did. Here's a funy group of people that printed photos of their friend Dave and were passing them to strangers! That's me in the back while Scott was running behind some runner.
Hi Arkelanor: Your two comments from www.garrettwebergale.blogspot.com were inadvertently deleted. So sorry about that. Please post again. The problem has been fixed now. Best of luck with your training. Cheers,
ReplyDeleteMark, Garrett's dad
Team Dave LOVED you and your husband's support for every single runner that came by. You two were amazing!!! We loved when he would run with them for awhile, shouting encouragement. I hope both of you are recovered from your day, and that your husband gets his voice back soon. Let us know when you run another marathon, Team Dave will cheer you on! :) - Mary the Food Librarian (AKA Team Dave Team Captain!)
ReplyDeleteThank you for every cheer you and your husband gave us! That section from 21 to 23 was by far the most mentally challenging on the course - and every name you called out helped us to the finish line. Dave (from Team Dave!)
ReplyDeleteMy voice is definitely hoarse today and my feet raw from running barefoot, however 99.5% of the people I yelled at (read motivated) ended up running the flat part where they would have been walking had it not been for me.
ReplyDeleteThere are places to take a break in a marathon, however most didn't know that if they kept running for 6 more minutes then the next 3 miles to the end are all downhill. I told them to give me the next 6 minutes and the rest is all theirs. And when they looked bad I told them they needed to link up with others who were jogging to motivate the other person.
Why do I do this, because when I ran LA (without an iPod) I remember that people cheering is what kept me going. And with 2 miles to go, I broke down in tears as I ran my heart out and people called out my name down the long, tall corridors of downtown LA. I wanted people to experience the same euphoria I felt. They had trained for the experience and I owed it to them. That and I missed my morning swim workout ;-)