Phoenix Marathon - Spectathlete
I am now an official spectathlete! And let me tell you, it's hard work! I woke at 5:30 to take Randi, Michelle, and Sandy to the marathon race start. Then I drove back to the hotel, woke up Troy, packed up and checked out, and drove Troy to the half marathon start.
Whew.
I dropped him, hugs, kisses, and good lucks. He had a plan. I whisked off to mile 3.75 of the marathon course. Took Annie pee, fed her some cheese, and then then the race leaders came by. Wow, fast! I saw Sam (Operation Jack) and then just after the 3:40 pacer I saw Michelle, Sandy and Cody running together. Missed Keith, dang.
Whew.
Back in the car, off to the 1/2 marathon mile 4.5. I caught up with my mom via phone (she was watching the Trakkers test that was going on), fed annie another cheese, and some milk, changed her out of her jammies, and doh, I missed the leaders. Annie and I cheered up a storm and Troy came by smiling from ear to ear. He was having fun!
Whew.
Ok, back in the minivan, speeding through the backstreets, pulling maneuvers, and u-turns. I pulled up to mile 8 on the 1/2 marathon course. Gave Annie milk, took her pee again, and there was Troy. Still smiling, running faster now. He went by so quick!
Whew.
Back in the car, racing across town, over to mile 18 of the marathon course. Annie played in a puddle and got yelled at by a police officer for dumping dirt in the puddle. Geez. She pouted, I cheeered. I got her another milk. I saw Keith go by, very focused, but about to bonk a few miles later. I saw Pam Reed, and Dean Karnazes. Wow, celebrities. Then came PIC. She looked Goooood. I ran a few feet down the sidewalk and screamed that it was time to start picking it up. She nodded.
Whew.
Back in the car. Over to the finish line area. Holy Crap. This was my first navigational trouble of the day. It look me hours to get to that darn finish area, along with 50,000 other people. Dean Karnazes beat me to the finish line.
Whew.
I parked, changed Annie's clothes from the puddle incident. I threw her on my back and we took off running to the finish area. a mile later we found Troy. By a stroke of luck we found PIC, and then sat next to the drop bag area waiting for Sandy and Keith.
Whew.
The spectathlete role ended with the athletes heading to shower and me running two blocks to pick up pizza and beer for them. A few hours of down time and we were back on an airplane headed to Denver.
Whew. I slept well that night. So did Annie.
Troy and Michelle (PIC = partner in crime)
Troy. Wow, Troy. I'm going to list his mile splits here because when someone tells you to negative split your first half marathon, this is how you do it. Granted, now we know that Troy needs to start out a little faster, but we just didn't know. The man is diligent, and patient. Here they are: 9:07, 8:54, 9:02, 9:02, 8:47, 8:46, 8:44, 8:34, 8:32, 8:22, 8:00, 7:52, 7:28, 6:33 pace for the last chunk. Total: 1:52:33. Seriously? Enough Said.
The crew: Randi, Troy, Michelle, Keith, Sandy
