Let's see, where did I leave off yesterday? Oh yes, we finished the half marathon in great spirits while Bianca and Karla managed to cheer us through the finish and meet us at the end. Seeing as George wasn't there at the finish (he was out of town) it was nice to have someone there cheering us on. What better ladies than these two?
They waited a LONG time for us to finish and they were freezing and just wanted to get to the car to change clothes. That's what you get for being so fast ladies. Hahaha. Karla is sickening fast, but ran this race for fun with Bianca and helped Bianca to a new sub-2:00 PR. Both of you ladies inspire me! I appreciate you hanging around to cheer myself and Kelley in.
It took a long time for me to get through the finishers' shoot and get my official finisher picture and all. By the time I did all of that, I tracked Julie and saw that she had already passed the 12 mile mark. I knew there was no way I could make it back down through the crowds to see her finish. Just as I thought I might attempt it, I got a text from Julie saying she'd finished. I felt VERY badly that I wasn't there cheering for her. That's what I get for starting 20 minutes behind the gun! Sorry Julie. I don't think Julie REALLY minded because her goal for the marathon was to do better than she did last year and she did that by nearly 8 minutes.
As you can see, we did manage to make it back to the car and change our clothes. We had to put on our official "honey badger" t-shirts. If you haven't seen the honey badger video you can look at it here. Be forewarned, it is kind of nasty. If you don't want to watch it, I'll give you the gist. Honey Badger is a badass animal who doesn't take anyone's $#^%. He does what he wants, goes against the odds and always prevails. Honey badger just don't care! My friends Jennifer and Shannon adopted the honey badger as their marathon training mascot and had shirts made for all of us. 26.2? Honey Badger don't care. I love it!
After changing and having a little food, we headed back to the finish line to wait for Jennifer and Shannon to finish their marathon. We stood just in front of the capital heading into the last turn just before the last 300 yards or so of the marathon.
It was amazing to stand at that spot and watch the emotions of all the people finishing a marathon. You see so many different types of emotions. You see people laugh, cry, sprint, walk, limp. Whatever you can think of, I probably saw it. There were times I welled up with tears remembering my own journey and empathizing with everyone finishing 26.2 miles. It was an amazing feeling being on the other side of the fence. When we finally saw Jennifer and Shannon coming we screamed, waved and cheered and it was awesome to see them finishing strong.
Only one honey badger pictured... sorry Shannon, not much I can do with an iPhone
We met up with the girls at the end of the finishers' chute and it was amazing to see the outpouring of love for Jennifer and Shannon. There were honey badger shirts everywhere.
We finished off our marathon day with a brunch in honor of Jennifer and Shannon. When you've trained for something for 6 months, trust me you deserve a celebration in the end. Congratulations to ALL my honey badger friends and thanks to everyone for a great day. 26.2 miles? Honey badger don't care!
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