Here’s the thing. I know I must have said this before but I’ll say it again. Running is so much more than the miles that your feet cover. Today as a non-running runner, I had so many happy moments that it almost became insignificant that I didn’t actually run 13.1 miles.

Of course it wouldn’t have been half as fun without Elvia, my fellow injured running peep, sharing the morning of spectatorship (is that even a word?) with me.

unplanned…we both decided to go with “spectator pink”

It started this morning at 6:30am. I got up, dressed, took the dog out quick and then drove from Staten Island into Brooklyn over my favorite bridge where I parked and hopped on the subway to get out to Coney Island.

VZ Bridge

By 8:15am I hopped off the subway and made my way up toward where Elvia was parked.

Iconic Nathans

We walked up onto the boardwalk right past the finish where they were giving out the finishers’ medals.

It was fairly early still but I happened to notice a Facebook friend’s dog. Long story but through the worlds of labradoodle and running I became “friends” with someone on Facebook. He had just finished running and his fiancé and their dog (who is a bigger version of Duncan) were there to greet him and take pictures. Always so awkward to say “hey we’re friends on Facebook”. Anyway, I chatted with them for a bit and then Elvia and I got busy tracking our friends. For whatever reason Elvia’s phone was working well while mine was having a hard time connecting to a signal (and we’re BOTH Verizon!) so she was the official tracker. All of a sudden it started to pour but we were right by a bar/restaurant with an awning so we grabbed ourselves some cocktails and sat under the awning to stay dry.

cocktails before 9am.

Lucky for us the rain stopped just before we saw our first friend was approaching mile 13.

And so for the next hour we continued to greet our runners with loud cheers (i think the margarita might have made me a little extra punchy 😉 and photo snaps.

First up was Robin…

Elvia and Robin have been friends for 15 years.

She actually took a little detour to run down her childhood block and still managed to break 2 hours.
Next up was Mike…

Mike!

I don’t think I’ve seen Mike since February so it was nice to see him for a bit. And then it was Lisa…

A left armed selfie since my right arm still won’t go high enough =) And notice how Lisa matches too?! I just noticed the photobomber in turquoise. LOL.

The volunteer was so nice he helped Lisa get over to where we were. Her own personal escort =)

She was so relaxed you’d never know she just ran 13 miles.
And then smiley Jorge…

Just before we left to go meet up with everyone at the designated post-race spot I said to Elvia that there were two runners from Staten Island that I was hoping to catch—Michelle (NYC Running Mama) and Jen (Mom’s Gotta Run). So we quickly tracked them on the livetracker site and saw they were literally approaching the finish line! Sure enough not a minute later I saw Jen and Michelle walking down the chute to get their medals. And Elvia and I SCREAMED their names!!!!

Friends help friends get PRs =)

I knew Michelle was coaching and pacing Jen and that Jen’s goal was sub 2. I also knew that Michelle always has that infectious smile so when I saw the smile I still had to ask….how’d it go? Jen not only beat her sub 2 goal but she PR’ed by 2 minutes. 1:56:xx. The were just the cutest. Walking arm in arm. I’m glad I got to be one of the first to congratulate them.

runner bloggers X3

Priceless!

And then it was off to the Brooklyn Cyclone’s baseball stadium to meet up with everyone and listen to some music. We finally connected with Cindy.

After party! Photo courtesy of Elvia.

Injured rotator cuff twins! Photo courtesy of Elvia.

So you see—half marathons are fun whether you run them or not =) But no worries…..i’ll be back to running them in September.

Have you ever spectated before?

Did you see everyone you were there to see?

Ever injure your rotator cuff?

Do you like the color pink?

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