Gratitude v. 2.0

Yesterday was the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. Before I ran Chicago I was planning on racing in one of these distances as last year I ran and won the 1/2 marathon, the first 1/2 I had ever won. I wanted to come back to defend my title as well as crush the “course record” I had set last year. Coming off Chicago though, I was struggling to get back into the necessary race mentality and then when my groin started causing me trouble I decided to back out completely. I just wasn’t comfortable heading into the race and didn’t want a poor performance simply because I was anxious to come back and run. So I took the encouraging spectator role and I’m glad I did, as I not only had a great time, but came to see so many people I have met in the last year and really appreciated the loose community that has developed around our friendships.

It was encouraging to see good friends put their efforts on the line in the race and either come close to winning or at least set new PR’s. Then there were those that couldn’t race that day or were still not ready to come back and took encouraging spectator roles as well. We shot around the course doing our best to lift up our friends and training buddies as they hung on the verge of collapse. We’d expect the same. Personally, I saw training friends, friends I’ve met through various races, running friends of running friends, even running enemies. Overall, I saw almost entirely people I WANTED to see versus those I ducked and covered from. The day was super positive and almost everyone was having a great time, not only racing but socializing afterwards as well.

It’s really cool to think that I had been running and racing solo for almost two years when all of a sudden I became absorbed into a unexpected grouping of really great people, all through running. It took a large local race to bring so many of us together, and I’m glad I could be there to experience it. Can’t wait to see what happens in the year to come.