Group Love

Everyone from my training group has been sending "race reflections" from the marathon on Sunday to our coach, who then sends them around to all of us. I love reading them and reliving the excitement of race day.

I submitted my own "Spectator's Perspective" and thought I would share it here also:

What a thrill to be out there on Sunday supporting the team. Having 30+ of us rally together to support one another in a great day of running is a true testament to the kind of group we have. It's been quite the summer as we've shared countless miles of blood, sweat, tears and sexual innuendos, and I hope to share many more miles with all of you in the future.

But back to Sunday... it was extremely rewarding seeing everyone out on the course to celebrate their training, and running alongside Sue, Micki, Scott, John, Neil, Wayne and Jane throughout the morning.

I'd like to note that I had arranged to meet Micki for the tail end of the race to keep her going and bring her in on pace. Micki and Scott were running together when I jumped in around 36K and imagine my surprise to discover they were both running so strong that I struggled to keep up! I was humbled to find myself counting down the KM markers for my own benefit as much as for theirs (of course I didn't admit it at the time) - keeping in mind that I had run about 25K less than they had at this point! Neither of you needed me, but it was a pleasure to share the experience with you.

A highlight of my day was certainly accompanying Micki for her "victory lap" around Queen's park into the finish. We both knew she had a BQ in the bag and I was so excited, you would have thought I had achieved it myself.

At the end of the day, I "finished" the race 4 or 5 times, bringing several of our runners around the seemingly endless loop to the finish line (and falsely promising "It's right around the corner!" over and over again). I could get used to this - simply running the END of a marathon; all the glory without all the pain. I wonder if some of the spectators started to recognize me....

This is much longer than intended - oops! Congratulations all around!

I can hardly believe this clinic is officially over after tomorrow. Another session will start up in January, but sadly our coach has decided not to return next year. It turns out his wife would actually like to spend some time with him. Go figure. Despite having a different instructor next time around, most of the group will be returning - myself included. (And many of us will continue to train together 'unofficially' in the coming months in preparation for Goofy and other races.)



Tomorrow evening is our end of session get together where we'll rehash many good (and not so good) stories shared on the roads over some food and drink, and also watch a slideshow that coach has put together of photos taken throughout the season. It should be a good time, although bittersweet.