When I was running (and by running I mean a half run, half walk sorta thing) the half marathon, there were some times were my legs were numb and all I wanted to do was sit down on the curb or flag down a friendly golf cart driver to pick me up. One of my best friends did the race with me and she was great motivation for me to keep going, but I specifically remember towards the end of the race (I believe it was around mile 11/12ish) there was a big crowd on either side of the course screaming at the top of their lungs for all of us to "keep going" and that "we were almost to the finish!" It gave me such a boost of energy that these strangers had been out there for over 2 hours cheering for us. It made me feel like I could do this; if these strangers believed in me, I definitely could believe in myself to finish this race strong.
That being said, I was so excited to participate as a volunteer for the Girls on the Run 5k that was this past Saturday. Girls on the Run is a non-profit organization and their mission is to "inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running." They also happen to be my sorority's philanthropy. So, on Saturday, our local alumnae chapter set up a cheer station in 40 degree weather on the side of the course, complete with pom-poms, cow bells, and our voices. We cheered on the girls, coaches, running partners, and all the other runners for about 45 minutes as each group came by.
It was such a fun experience! Every time a group of young girls would run by, their faces would light up as they passed by our cheer station. The runners would lift their arms up and cheer with us as they ran by, because they were pumped up by our energy. Some of the girls who were walking would start running again, and it would make me think back to when I was walking through that cheer station during the half marathon and was motivated to pick back up and finish the race running. It's amazing what you can do for people by just going out their and yelling out that they can do this, and that they were doing a great job. A lot of the running partners and coaches that were running with the girls even thanked us as they went by. I wanted to thank them because I was having so much fun!
After the race ended, we all went to brunch and tried to warm up our frozen fingers and toes (and I sounded like a man because I lost my voice from screaming like a crazy person!). Overall, it was a great experience being on the other side of a race and being able to motivate the runners like so many cheer stations have done for me in the past. So, if you ever get the chance to make it to a race in your area, make sure you are cheering on the runners, because it really means a lot to them!!
This is me with my amazing sorority sisters!
In other news, this week is going to be so crazy! I am going to four Christmas parties at work, we have an event on Wednesday night and I really need to finish my Christmas shopping! I am going to try to fit in a work out at least three times this week either before or after work. The only problem is my knee has been giving me some problems, so they will probably be short runs. I did go look at bikes yesterday though and love the hybrids...I need to save up some money and invest in one so I can start training outdoors for this sprint triathlon in July! Yikes!
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