City of Oaks Marathon recap

I'm going to post vomit today. I've had so much going on this past week/weekend that I want to capture on blog paper...that it's going to take a couple of posts!

First of all...the most recent: The City of Oaks Marathon and Half!

I volunteered for this awesome event last night and OMG it was so much fun.

I was scheduled to be a course monitor for which I got the awesome swag you saw in an earlier post. I showed up to my intersection on Hillsborough St in downtown Raleigh at 6am and it was COLD! I sat in my car as long as I could.

I met my partner, CostaRica and we sat in our chairs side-by-side waiting for some action. Ms. CostaRica was so nice. We chatted about how we got into running and she told me that her and her husband were expecting their first child! I eventually had to go get my sleeping bag out of the trunk (hooray for never cleaning it out!) and bundled up in my chair and snoozed a little.

Finally we started to see people running in our direction! Little people! It was the kids mile run! They were so cute running...some with parents...some by themselves. I saw some of them afterwards with their big medal and they were so proud of themselves!

We sat around a bit more and finally the fast runners started trickling past. I stood in the middle of the street and directed traffic. I clapped and cheered for all of the runners. It was so much fun yelling their bib numbers and giving them encouragement. I had so many runners thank me for being there to which I just told them that they were the real inspiration. I saw people who looked fresh as a daisy...and people who looked like they couldn't take another step. I tried my best to encourage them all.

Run away from the crazy lady!

I wasn't far from the finish line so lots of runners asked me how far they had left. I was happy to be the one to tell them only .1 of a mile! I told them to run towards the donuts and beer! I told them that they looked awesome and that they should finish strong because they've got this! I told some runners that their feet were on fire they were running so fast! And others that they were killing it!

I saw a dad who had finished and was wearing his medal. I congratulated him on finishing and he told me that his daughters had surprised him at the finish line and that he didn't know they were coming. I could see how much this meant to him by the tears of joy in his eyes. That made me tear up just a bit.

Finally...6 hours after the roads had opened back up and I was getting ready to leave...I saw that there were still runners out on the course, now running on the sidewalk. I stopped on the other side of the street and cheered as loud as I could for those last runners who had been running for 6+ hours! They were amazing...talk about giving it everything you've got!

 

Some runners started to pass as I was taking pictures...so this is me in action!

Getting my swag on!

If you know me in real life....you know that I love free swag. I use coupons, I like freebies, and I live for a good deal.

Because I'm so cheap...I like to volunteer my time rather than give my money. (mostly because I have more time than money)

So when I heard they needed volunteers for the City of Oaks Marathon in my home city, I was all about it. Hang out with runners....experience the race without having to run it or pay for it...and get free swag? Sign me up!

I had my volunteer training session last night. Plus I picked up my swag!

I get a a tech hat too!

 

This picture in no way demonstrates just how bright YELLOW this shirt is! I love it!

 

I'll be going to the race expo and hanging out with runners. Then on race day you'll find me at about 26.1 miles (or 12.8 if you're running the half marathon)...near the finish line!

 

I'll be the one yelling "You're almost done! Great job! Don't quit now!" 

 

Life is funny...

I have a confession to make....

I am a bit of a Pollyanna. I fully believe that you can make lemonade out of lemons...that every cloud has a silver lining...and that life is funny.

This has been a rough year for me. I've had a lot of good things happen, but I've also had some huge bad ones. One of those things was being broken up with (not once...but twice).

Ratbastard left me in a bad place. He dumped me to make his mom happy and on his way out said some very unflattering things about my appearance. And while I like to think he didn't mean them...how do I trust anything he ever said to me?

Within dealing with all of the heartbreak that comes with being dumped....a very strange thing happened...

I made a new friend.

My new friend Bliss was going through some issues of her own and we connected via an amazing knitting website. She took the time out of her day to try to make me feel better and to relate to me and the more we talked...the more I realized what an wonderful person she is. We eventually started calling each other and now text almost everyday.

Bliss lives on the other side of the US from me. (all the better for global domination!) Somehow...we got to talking and she came up with this crazy idea to run a marathon together. Me...being just as fun and crazy as she is....agreed!

I feel that Bliss explains it best so I'm copying what she said in her blog..."The Domino Effect has been known to happen with positive endeavors, so we're keeping it real by not blaming each other for any joyful by-products. It's a pretty cool deal with which we sweetened with doughnut rewards and other motivational perks."

I'm super excited to have such a huge goal to work towards (26.2 miles!) and to have such a great long-distance training partner. I think we're going to push each other to do great things. And I can't wait to meet her because I'm planning on running the Portland Marathon in 2014!

Bliss...I guess the secret is out of the bag!

(my favorite motivation poster - courtesy of Nike)