The report time was around 5:00 am, so with my coffee in hand...I arrived at the start of the half marathon. There were a few people milling around the streets and about a half dozen others setting up the water stations, packet pick-up tables, etc. At that point, I met my co-captain {Adam} and we headed to our exchange zone. The absolute worst part of the WHOLE day was stepping in a dead bird on the side of the road. The road kill was right where we needed to set up the water station tables and I didn't see it since the sun wasn't up yet and it was still dark. The mushy feeling was so disgusting and the smell was so bad that I thought Adam was going to get sick. Luckily, one of the volunteers was a "farm girl" and took a box, scooped it up and removed it from the scene. Thank goodness the grass was still wet from the night before so it removed all traces of residue from my shoe. The thought apparently stuck in Adam's mind because my husband knew before I even had a chance to tell him. Yuck!
A little while later, my kids arrived on the scene, ready to "sell" water and Gatorade. They did a great job setting up and handing cups of water to the runners.
At 7:15 am, the half marathon started. Here come the lead bikers...
Dr. Gilroy {my chiropractor on the right} ran the half...
Lots of runners!
My friend {Lecia} in the half as well...
Here's a morning view of the canal tow path. Soon enough, runners were going to be covering this area of the trail.
The Moravian XC gals {and guys} volunteered to help out. They did an amazing job cheering for all of the runners!
My college coach {Mark Will-Weber} and me as he waited for his team member to finish the second leg.
Payton was an excellent cheerleader! She had a blast passing out gel to the marathoners.
A view of the exchange zone, and Adam, my cohort. Adam informed me that he will be running a marathon the week before running the "Hat Trick" at the Runner's World festival in October. I told him that he is nuts!!
Bart Yasso of Runner's World showed up to check out the race because his brother {Gerry} was one of the race coordinators. When I was a little girl, I can remember Bart arriving to my house for a Lehigh Valley Road Runners meeting. He would bring a whole pizza and eat the entire pie himself!
My husband {in the orange} and Channel 69 Sports Anchor, Troy Hein, were the MCs at the finish line.
The girls were fooling around at this cool metal sculpture.
Jesse was one of the lead bikers for the marathon and relay. We picked him up at the finish and took him back to the start to get his car.
Afterwards, we headed to Jeannine's house for a post-race party and her relay team, the Running Rovers, were there to celebrate. They are a fun group of women who teach at Easton Area High School.
Jeannine and me...
Of course, I asked her what I could bring, and she said "nothing." And, of course, I had to bring something...so I made Ina Garten's Rosemary Cashews. If you've never had them, try this recipe. It is a winner!
It's the perfect combination of sweet, hot and salty because of the brown sugar, rosemary and cayenne pepper.
I believe that Sunday was an overall success for Via...
Here are
some highlights from the Race Directors:
- Spectator response hit an all-time high. We had gridlock conditions at some relay exchange points.
- Many qualified for the Boston Marathon, and many ran personal records.
- We had a great volunteer turn out!
- Over 150 of the cutest kids you ever saw ran in the kid’s races on Saturday.
- Hundreds of high school students turned out to participate as volunteers, cheerleaders and community advocates.
- Relay
team participation hit an all-time high.
As for running, I did a nicely paced 5.5 miles last night and tonight, I am meeting Jesse for a workout. It is unknown at this point what I will be doing, but I will be sure to share with you after it is complete. We are also going to discuss my fall race calendar. I have some ideas in mind, but I need to decide ASAP so Jesse can accurately prepare my training schedule. It's all so exciting! Enjoy your Tuesday!
Damn, we look good!
ReplyDeleteThe Via Relay is so much fun, and it was great to have you guys over for lunch! For my part, however, I now realize I looked not like I had run in the relay but rather that people ran the relay ON me! Ugh.... ha ha ha!
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