Spectating

On Saturday, most of my friends raced the Kinetic Half Ironman at Lake Anna. If you remember back when I bagged Eagleman, I had thought about signing up for this race. I may have been physically ready to race (of course my goal would have been to just finish and for some reason I am not ok going into a race with that goal) but mentally I was not.

The kids were racing a mile race that morning and the Run Club at their elementary school had their culminating 1.2 of their kid's marathon race too. All the excuses were there for my NOT to do Kinetic.

But do you know what happens when all of your friends are doing a race and you wish you were doing it too? You go into super stalker mode. I am serious! My refresh button is worn because of Saturday. I was paralyzed by checking their results and wondering what was going on.

First things first: Kids on the Run race:

The race started at 8:30 am and we arrived early to help organize the Run Club runners. It was chilly at first so Kiera and I had tights on but we both went to the car to shed them early on.

It was exciting to see all of the young runners excited for the race to start. Brock was running the mile run (the Run Club at school was only for 2-5th grade) and Kiera was running the 2k with the Run Club. The Run Club kids kept asking questions, "Coach Jen, are we starting yet?" "Coach Jen, when do we get our medals?" "Coach Jen, you think we can do this?"

It was cute their nerves were getting to them similarly to the way they get to us. I kept assuring them that they had run further than this in practice. I saw that there was a big hill at the start, so I cautioned them to use the hill to get warmed up, into their groove, to not take it fast, most would take it fast and then you can pass them! I told them how fun it was to pass people.

Brock was super excited. I think he sprinted the whole mile. Every time I saw him on the course, he was sprinting. I asked if he ran that way the entire time and he looked at me like: Duh, I ran! Check out that outfit. I must say he does not have the style that Kiera and I do. Can you see his argyle socks? This was pretty much his stride the every time I saw him on the course.

When he finished, he was beet red. He actually got 6th overall in his heat. Not bad for a boy who didn't even train.

Next up was the 2k and all of the kids were filled with butterflies. My co-coach Julie was reminding them about posture and pace and all I said was: You can do this. We know you can, you already have, so go out and have some FUN!

And they were off. Many did not heed my advice about the hill and I could see them struggling up it. But I start races out too fast too, who am I kidding? Julie and I ran around the course to run a little with the kids lagging. I think that was the best part. They were so excited to see us and to run with us.

Kiera ran with her little friend Kelly and she had an awesome pace. I am pretty sure she could have run faster, but I KNOW she was encouraging her friend, so that is all that matters in my book.

She was tired in the end, and I said: Well, if you finished with lots of energy then you didn't try hard enough. She was beat but excited for the Kid's Marathon Ceremony where she and many others from the club received a certificate congratulating them on logging 25 miles to date and finishing it with their 2k run.

Julie and I were super excited at how well our kids did. We shared with them our love of running!
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I rushed home after the race to track my friends in their HIM. They had finished the swim already. Some of them had amazing swims. I was in awe... mostly jealous I was too chicken to even start.

The bike times took forever to upload. I kept refreshing my screen to see. I even found the organizers FB page in time for them to say they had updated times for anything up to 11:30. Wahoooooo! I got to see their times - some of my friends had AWESOME times... and a few did not. What happened? Flats? Was the course harder than they expected?

The worst thing about spectating a race via a computer is not knowing what was actually happening. And since it was a HIM - it would be a while... before I would know.

So what I did was to text everyone their swim, T1, bike times... their official times so when they finished they knew. I hate waiting in the line to see... I like to know right away. This helped me feel productive!

And then when I expected their runs to be over... still nothing updated on the page. AHHHH! The agony of not knowing. I hated it. Finally reply texts started coming in, websites were updated... I knew their times. Actually I memorized them all.. in case they wanted to know. I had even sent some of them comparison times from their last HIM - yeah, I'm crazy like that. My friend E had an hour PR - AWESOME. TG, despite probably having a flat for most of the ride and not knowing and suffering from knee issues managed under 6 hours, and IronJay - despite two flats and riding the last 15 miles on his third flat had the perseverance to actually finish!

I was so excited for them... and super jealous. YES. I admit - I got the HIM bug again. And with two registered marathons in the Fall, I am trying to see how I can work a HIM into the planning for September. Crazy indeed!