Tuesday, April 13, 2010

To B or Not to B

It was a great running weekend in the High-Five state. I actually got in a run each day of the weeknd and I'm happy to report that I have no run stopping twinges or aches!

I know that most of you are reporting about PRs and ridiculously long runs but for me it;s just the joy of running.

That's right, this is what you have to look forward to when you aren't running PRs or peaking for a race. We older folk just enjoy the fact that we can run. That's my story and I'm sticking to it....

Okay, I had the pleasure of supporting one of my former co-workers that was running a local marathon in hopes of BQing. Since he's so much younger than me, all he needed was a sub 3:30. He had put in all of the training miles, speedwork, tempo runs and just barely eluded a calf injury.

The event just happened to be about an hours drive from home so I calculated that I needed to arrive at a specific time to ensure seeing him on the course at our agreed upon mile marker. Knowing all of this I gave myself some additional sleeping and coffee drinking time at home.

Some of the things you should do when supporting someone at an event, bring a map, know where the finish area is located and lastly arrive with more than 30 seconds to spare!

Yikes, I had just stepped on the course when my friend appeared out of no where! it was time to run.........

I stayed with him for what seemed like forever, okay just a little over a mile since I had to get back to the car and find my way to the finish. He was doing great, his BQ was in the bag.

Well as we all know, things happen in a marathon and not all of them are good. somewhere between miles 20 and 25 my friend hit the wall.

Okay, long story short. I finally made it to the finish area and there was my friend showing me his watch which read 3:31:44!!!

Forty eight seconds from Boston...........

He walker twice the last mile and that could have been his 48 seconds......

He took it like a champ and we proceeded to think of a strategy to find another event for him to run.

Well, it seems that my friend had neglected to stop his watch when he crossed the finish line and stopped it 1:24 after crossing. So his official finishing time is 3:20 and he BQed!!!!

So we thought we were consuming BEvERages while consoling him when in reality we were celebrating........... YAY Brian

6 comments:

Jen Feeny said...

AWESOME! CONGRATS to your friend!!! BQ woot woot!

And yes the weather was nutso but beautiful this weekend in the high five state, I was happy to have witnessed it! :)

Michele said...

Wow that is great news!! Congrats to Brian!

Jess said...

Congrats to him!

Marlene said...

Wow, congrats to Brian!!! Talk about a close call. Someone that I train with missed it by FOUR SECONDS (yes, 4!) - he emailed the BAA peeps and they graciously accepted his time. PHEW!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Wow! Congrats to him, that's awesome. Ummm, age is irrelevant, I run for the sheer pleasure too ;)

CoachLiz said...

What a great story. I am guilty of not stopping my watch right at the line. I want good finish line photos.

 
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