San Antonio Non-Race Report

This weekend was the first race I have ever signed up for and not participated in. I thought it was going to be pretty rough, but actually I had a blast and never really felt sad that I was not running - I think there was too much other stuff going on to even dwell on the fact that I was supposed to be out there.

My brother-in-law, Sean, and his friend Adam, had been training for a few months to run their first half. They were both a bit worried as 11 miles was the furthest they had run, but I assured them they would be just fine. Adam had lost 30 lbs in the process of training. He looked great!

Saturday afternoon we went to the expo to pick up packets and I went ahead and picked mine up - not exactly sure why I did, but it didn't feel right just leaving it there! The expo was not so great. We had to wait in lines forever to even get in - it is like we were livestock being corralled into the Alamodome. Once we got in, I was not very impressed and it was crowded. I don't do crowds well! We headed back to my sister's house after that and the 11 people who were staying there began getting ready for dinner and the race the next day. Jon and I ran to Academy for some last minute cold-weather gear for the guys that they could throw away once it warmed up. You can't beat $5.99 sweat shirts and $0.99 burnt orange hats. They were all set.

Just before dinner, somehow it came up that Vickie (Adam's wife) could use my bib if she wanted to race the next day. She has been running for a long time, but the longest she had run any time recently was 6.5 miles and the furthest she had ever run was probably around 8 miles. She wasn't worried one bit - I LOVE that!! She had her running shoes with her, but nothing else. She did have to ask my sister if she minded watching FIVE children during the race since my sister already had her three and would then have to watch Vickie's 2! My sister said no problem, and at 7:30pm, Vickie jumped in the car and headed to Academy to buy clothes she could run in. I was sooo happy she was going to use my bib and be able to run her first half marathon on a whopping 12 hours notice! I was also so impressed with her fearless leap into the race.

The kids and I made posters Saturday night - the process involved lots of glitter!

Sunday morning Jon and I drove a car load of runners downtown and got stuck in traffic and sat for a good 30-45 minutes waiting to drop everyone off. It was getting a bit tense, and I was beginning to think we weren't going to get to see the lead runners, but we all stayed calm. We finally dropped them off around 7 I think (race started at 7:30) and headed into downtown to find a parking place. We were shocked how easy it was for us to park and move around. We planted ourselves at mile 2 and were there in plenty of time to see the lead pack come through. It was so neat to watch them - they just fly. I had a Houston Fit poster and one for Sean, Vickie, and Adam. I had tons of people yell over to me and it was awesome to be able to cheer for so many people I knew.

Brian Sell, US Olympic Marathoner, on the right (he won the half marathon)

After our crew came through mile 2, we walked over to mile 8 and watched everyone come through again. Everyone still looked awesome, and Vickie looked like she was just on a walk in the park! We then headed over to mile 12.5 for our final watching station. My sister and the kids met us over there and then our racers met us back over there after they finished. They were all in good spirits and all had AWESOME races! Adam and Vickie finished in 2:01 and Sean finished in 2:04. Vickie gets the "running freak" award for the weekend.

Vickie and Adam at mile 8My sister and "the crew" - all 5 of them!

One sassy spectator

Four happy first-timers!Kiehne Family

Price Family

I'm glad we were able to go watch and help out and I know it really was a good thing that I was there to help. My sister had 5 kids to watch and they went to a different spot on the course to watch where it was easier to park and they wouldn't have to walk so far. I'm so excited that the running world just got 3 new members. They are already talking about how to shave those few minutes off and go under 2 hours at their next race, presumably at either 3M or Austin. I just hope I'm back at it by then and can run with them.