For the first time in my life I was able to spectate at the Portland Marathon. I supported my wife Michelle (PR by 8 min) and cheered support for many runners. Michelle ran the race with Rick W. from the Y-Run Club with a finish time of 5:20:04. This was Rick's first finish in a big marathon having run 5-6 smaller venues including a 50K at Mt. Si. I took a ton of pictures including many Marathon Maniacs running the race. Speaking of Maniacs Rob Hester entered the race with about 0 miles for the month in the Clydesdale division. We think he may have been in the top 18 of the division. These pictures will be posted later this week. I will submit the pics to Tony P. for the newsletter. I'll defer to Michelle's blog for more race details. After gathering all the jackets and stuff from the runners at the start I went out to points along the course.
At the start about .2 miles from the timing mats I yelled things like:
"Only 26 more miles to go!"
"The hard parts behind you!"
"That was the last hill!"
"Go Maniac!"
At mile 12 I yelled things like:
"You look strong!"
"You can still win this thing!"
"Smile!"
"Go Maniac!"
I saw one of our speedy Y-Run Club members Ruth at mile 12 running strong and in good spirits. She tossed me her long sleeve shirt and kept on going. Apparently at mile 20 she collapsed and got an ambulance ride to the hospital. That wasn't her A plan. In fact I'm sure it was not part of the plan at all. They got her back on her feet and she headed home with a DNF ;-( Hope you are OK Ruth!
At mile 23.5 up the second to last hill I yelled:
"You look strong!"
"Run tall! Posture! Form! Breath!"
"You look great!"
"Charge up that hill!"
"You own this hill!"
"You love hills!"
"Can you smell the finish line?"
"You Can Do It!"
"Smile, you paid for this!" (best laughs)
"Go Maniac!"
Wow, you can sure tell the people who trained well vs poorly/having a bad day. I had a lot of compassion for both since I've been there done both before. I guess it's best to say some days are diamonds, some days are stone.
A bicycle rider was struck head on by a MAX train just 400 meters from where I was standing at mile 23.5. The rider was drug under the second car of the train. A news report we read tonight said that they got him out alive. It sounded like he was going to make it OK. One lucky dude if you ask me. I wish him a speedy recovery. BTW an Oregon State Patrol car responding to the accident came ripping up the marathon course at a speed of at least 80 MPH. I wrote an email complaining to OSP because I feel that he recklessly endangered many of the runners lives to arrive at an accident scene that had Fire and Aid present. NOT COOL!
Nice job 5:00 AM Y runners! Same to Ray, Jane, Scott, Sarah, Phillis, Pete (Hippo) and all the others we have had the pleasure to run with and meet along the way!.
Note: I ran 6 miles this weekend which is an all time low for about 2 years.
Run with a smile!
Eric
20 comments:
Supporting your wife in a marathon without running it is one of the nicest things I seen a distant runner do.
Sounds like you had a fun day on the side lines. Well done to Michelle also.
You're the best! Thanks slave.
I'm going to remember those cheers... Learn something new every day!
They're great cheers! I'm doing the Dublin Marathon baggage area this year so I have to think of better things to say than just "Well Done!" and "Congratulations!"
It was great seeing you out on the course! Your presence helped me run up that 23.5 mile hill. I don't remember that incline (and it really is just an incline) seeming so steep! : )
As long as they didn't cancel on this marathon...all is good. Sometimes it's more fun to serve than to run, been there, done that.
I am glad that I made the trip and the run. I was hoping you were going to be at mile 20 so you could take the 50 pound vest I was wearing off my hands. Well, maybe it was only 50 ounces, but it felt like 50 pounds by mile 23.5. I'll have to go check the Clydesdale results.
Good for you for being support crew this time. :) I'm sure you provided loads of entertainment with your variety of comments. ;)
Scary incident with the max, etc. Yikes!
As for the mileage this weekend. It probably will benefit you more than you know to have an easy weekend.
On to the next event, huh?
Yes, you make one heck of a supporter, you deserve a medal for that! Michelle is soo lucky! :)
I also think that this is one of the best things that two runners who love each other can do for one another. Way to step in there, slave!
Meghan
Nice job being crew and providing the supporting comments. My fav was, "You can still win this thing!".
The low weekend milage will help you rest for Autumn leaves, maybe you should take the whole month off, just to be sure. I signed up for the 50 mile and plan to run with Rob.
Looks like you're all rested up then for record breaking miles next weekend. Good luck.
Jeanie asked how my dinner with the Maniacs went and I told her, "Well, there's this website called Dirty Girl Gait-" That's when she cut me off with an "Oh" and then walked away.
Nice job with those cheers, I love it! Also, good work on the low mileage, you probably needed it. Your comment about the bear inspired a mention on my blog. If you haven't seen photos, there are some on my blog...the poor bear!
I love the comments you were yelling to Michelle/the runners! This is what Seth "hates" about runners - we're always too happy and too f**king positive :)
I'm glad that bicyclist was okay - how scary! I'll have to find a newspaper article - but what was he doing on the track that he didn't see the train (not that I'm trying to blame the victim here). I really am glad it wasn't worse.
Hey, 6 miles? You're still okay in my book.
I totally remember wanting to punch people shouting those comments last year when I was the ill-prepared runner. =) Why does it seem funny now?
Is Tacoma not a "big" marathon yet?
Good job crewing for everyone. It's nice to be on the other side every once in a while, seeing everyone and encouraging them along. Sounds like it was a really fun weekend!
wow, sounds sort of intense!
sounds like a good run out there for Michelle and all your other friends. How wonderful you could be there to support here, and offer some fabulous cheers :) I love the .2 mile cheers. I'd think those would have to make everyone smile!
Hope your body enjoyed the weekend off!
Great to see you supporting Michellle and taking it easy! Congrats to her on Portland. At least the temps were tolerable! And good for you for resting!!
You crew for her, she crews for you. I say it's fair. :-)
BTW, I think that Michelle might have had a reality-show encounter between miles 13 and 17 near Forest Park. Seems that Matt Roloff from the show Little People, Big World was having trouble driving his huge RV by a marathon that was a stone throw away from his farm in Hillsboro.
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