If you can't join 'em, cheer for 'em.

April 19, 2011

Now that our taxes are signed, sealed, and delivered, I can blog again! I can also find friendly words to use toward my husband, and in my opinion, that's even better. But wait.......on top of that, I can have my choice of beans, rice, or oatmeal for every one of my meals for the next three months! Woo hoo for taxes!

In honor of the fact that Jared and I didn't keel over from stress before/on/around April 15th, we took a trip to see the Boston Marathon yesterday. What can I say? If you can't join 'em, watch 'em. I'm so glad I did, it was incredible.

We lined the fence somewhere around mile 25.5, and I've got pictures to prove it:


This was the first pack of women to come by. I kid you not, they were like three feet tall and probably weighed sixty-four pounds with a load in their pants. When they passed up, they were at 2:18. The elite women got an early start, and I've got to say, it was pretty inspiring to get to see the women pass first.


Speaking of inspiring, that's Kara Goucher up there. I love her so damn much that the magnitude of my girl crush alone almost propelled me over the fence and into her arms. When she ran by I was like, "Kara! It's me! Amy! Your best friend! Remember?!"

She didn't seem to remember. Huh.


The guy in the green ran something insane like a 2:03--that's 4:41 per mile. Look at the guy on the left. He's just boinging down the road like a kid on Christmas morning. When they ran by, I think I yelled something like, "Holy @#$%!"


That's Ryan Hall on the left, about to set the new American record. Seriously, what other sport lets you get so close to the superstars? And what other sport encourages the superstars to wear nothing but tiny underpants? I love running.


And finally, here's the back of the sign that Jared and I brought along for our friend, Seth who was after the elusive sub-three hour marathon. Hoo boy, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone hit the wall so hard--oh wait, right.

Poor guy was walking along the opposite side of the road, spotted the sign, and made his way toward it like a moth to the light. Runners (possibly dressed up like ballerinas and apes) were bouncing right off of him while he zombied over toward the sign. He was like, "Oh look. That's my name."

He leaned on the fence and I said, "Do you want me to take your picture?"

And he said something along the lines of, "No I don't ____ing want you to take my ____ing picture right now. What kind of ____ing question is that?"

So I was like, "Are you sure?"

He was sure.

It wasn't a good day for everyone, but it was a great day for us. A 100% kid free trip to Boston. We even held hands.

17 comments:

Laura said...

Kara said in a pre-race interview that even if she doesn't acknowledge people, she hears every time someone cheers her name, and it helps her keep going. So don't worry, you are still BFFs :)

kristen said...

Is there any female runner who doesn't have a girl-crush on Kara? I think I'd blush if I met her, and then stammer something like "I love you...I mean, pleased to meet you!"


Question- I associate the name "Seth" with people from New England. Is this a valid association?

Laura said...

Kristen - never thought about it till now, but I'd associate it with the Rocky Mountain area (Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, etc). Go figure :)

David said...

Ex the Kara crush and get on the Desi train. That chick was simply awesome yesterday.

Mindy said...

Awesome race-watching report, Amy!

Anonymous said...

Love it!! I miss Boston in general so any news coming out of the great city is good for me. T

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

That picture is INSANE. Do your feet EVER touch the ground when you're running 4:41s??? Crazy.

Sarah said...

Awe inspiring for sure. My sister in law is from Boston. She got in on a charity team and ran it for her first marathon to celebrate her 30th birthday which is Saturday. Her time was 3:46:and change!

Carrie said...

That sounds like an awesome trip. I love Boston. I can't believe someone could run a 4:41 mile, let alone 26 of those one right after the other. I got a Garmin watch and get excited when I download my run and see that one of my miles was less than 9:30. I hope that makes you feel like a super stud runner :)

Karen said...

I missed the beginning, which is the very best part, when they shoot the gun and everyone moves in slow-motion cause there are so many millions of runners there.

Shelby Lou said...

"We even held hands!" How precious! Whoever runs Boston is a hero. Seriously, those times are nuts! It took me longer to run a half marathon! baha

LAPT said...

64 pounds with a load in their pants.

Literally. HOLY BEJEEBUS.

I know that you know what I'm talking about.

Anonymous said...

Not a runner so don't hate me. But my thought was "Holy skinny legs!" Not sure how that can be healthy.

funderson said...

ah...bliss...

JoannaP said...

Oh I wish I had known. Did you stick around to watch the slower charity runners? I would have let you take my picture!
Kara was probably showered and out for lunch by the time I came by.

Kirsty said...

Omihell, I don't know if it's just the postpartum talking here but after seeing the amount of air the boinging guy was catching at the end of the BOSTONFRIGGINMARATHON I have decided that I am never running again. Actually I never did run. I shuffled. But no more. That's just dumb.

Clearly some people are meant to run and some aren't and I fall into the latter category. In fact I feel ridiculous that I have been "running" for all these years when on my best day I can take maybe 10 paces with that sort of air. And I'm pretty sure that one of my boobs weighs more than his whole body.
Done. I am done.

Tara M said...

I'm obviously a noob. I realize Seth was uber disappointed with his performance, but I was uber impressed to be able to say I KNOW someone who ran the Boston Marathon! It sounded like a good finish time to me, but I suppose that is all relative. Going to see the Boston Marathon in person is on the bucket list!