Smile Pretty For The Camera

If there is one thing I love more than testing my strength and stamina and running a marathon it's volunteering for one while taking pictures and cheering on other runners!  It is such an amazing experience to be witness to such mental and physical strength (especially when its cold and rainy outside)!

Today was the Idaho Wine Run which offers the 5K, 10K, 1/2 Marathon and Full Marathon distances. I was stationed at Aid Station 8 which got all of the distances.  Every single walker and runner came through our Aid Station, and boy was that fun!  Boise has an incredible running community, and I LOVED seeing so many of my friends.  Either we were running or we were volunteering.  I saw friends from church, friends from volunteer work, friends from a chiropractor office I used to do massages at, and friend I met through running.  It was incredible!

The day started cloudy but nice.  Early in the race, we had a bit a a rain sprinkle. But by the end of the race, it wad down right raining and chilly!  We were at our Aid Station from 9:30 and closed up at 2:00 when the 2nd and 3rd last marathoners came by. The last marathoner was still an hour out (at least) and was being followed by the sweeper in a car with all the aid she could possibly need.

There were some incredible stories out there on the road today.  My friend Kimberlee was finishing up her 44th half marathon.  There was one woman who was running her first ever 5K and swore the course was up hill both ways.  (It may have been!)  There was a woman running for first 1/2 marathon with another friend and we cheered them on.  There were several families out there running with their babies in strollers; that is a great fete when you are pushing up those hills!  I think my favorite was the full marathoner who was 6th from last I believe.  He had been living in Nicaragua and had been on a diet.  He lost over 50#.  He flew in just last night; landed at Midnight. Only had a couple of hours of sleep.  At the beginning of the race it was warm so he had taken off his shirt and ran topless.  But then the rain and the cold front came in.  He had been used to hot humidity; which is NOT what he was experiencing today.  Someone had given him a towel to wrap up in.  Coming up the hill to our Aid Station he stopped to stretch out the cramps he was experiencing. Once he got to me, he was all smiles. At the actual Aid Station, he stopped to visit with us as we continued to check on his health.  Dennis (our Aid Station captain) offered him a dry, warm shirt, but he decline. His body was cramping from the cold and jet lag...AND it was his FIRST marathon!  Such an inspiration!

 




Another man came running up covered in a towel.  He had been experiencing cramps so badly, he had fallen onto the street.  Someone had stopped their car and let him in so he could warm up.  He had also been running topless.  Someone gave him a shirt. Then someone else gave him a towel.  And somewhere along the line, he had picked up a beautiful black lab who ran all the way to the finish line with him. (The dog had a collar on but no tag.)

The last 3 people in the marathon were all women.  Then 2nd and 3rd to last women were incredibly strong.  Both insisted that they were fine and didn't need any dry clothes or help.  They just wanted to be done.  Sore.  Wet. Cold.  They kept going.

The most inspirational story out there is probably the one I didn't get to hear.  The woman that came in very last.  Having been in that position before, I can only imagine what was going through her mind.  I saw her at her very start, and she was last then.  She was walking up that very first hill out of the winery.  By the time we were leaving, the rain was coming down hard.  It was cold.  And I'm positive she was walking and pretty slow.  I'm positive she was hurting.  Yet, she was still moving at mile 22 and heading toward that finish line.  I don't know what time she finished, but I'm sure she did.  She may have been last, but she was certainly a winner today..just for finishing!

What a great way to spend my Sunday!  Congrats to all of the finishers for all of the distances.  It doesn't make a difference if you did a 5K or a Marathon distance.  It doesn't matter if you walked or if you ran.  What matters is that you started and that you were out there while others just laid on the couch today!  Each and every one of you are heroes in my book!!!