Surprise!

Back in June, my two best friends decided that they were going to train to run a half marathon in October. At first, I definitely had my doubts. One of them, Jessie, runs regularly, but I've never known her to run more than a 10k (not that that's anything to take lightly!). The other, Reggie, was a 6'1", 275 lb offensive lineman who had never run beyond what was required for practice. However, they definitely surprised me with their commitment to training, so I decided to surprise them by going to Greenville for the race on Saturday. The race was at 8am, and since I wasn't able to drive up on Friday night, I left Charleston at 4:15am to get there in time. It was SO worth the early wakeup call, though. They were so surprised to see me and very thankful that I was there to support them.

I have never been to any big races before, as I'm clearly not a runner, but the event was really neat. There was a kids' run, a 5k, half marathon, and full marathon. All of the runs started outside the Greenville Drive baseball stadium, and the finish line was right behind home plate. After the start, I went into the stadium to watch runners from the shorter races finish. It was so cool to watch people cross that finish line. There were kids and grandparents, the clearly experienced runners and not-so-experienced walkers, and lots of groups of friends, all of whom were so excited about their accomplishments. And the support from everyone was amazing. Everyone got to the finish line met with applause, cheers, and smiling faces to greet them.

Just before the 2 hour mark, I saw Reggie enter the stadium and come around the field towards the finish line. His goal had been to finish within 2 hours, and he crossed the line in an hour and 58 minutes! He hung around the finish line to meet Jessie when she finished not too much later. I have never been so proud of my friends. I mean seriously... a half marathon... that's amazing. I was so happy I got to be there to see it, and it was a truly inspirational day. Blogger doesn't want to let me add pictures, but you can see my album from the event here.

On the football front, both "my" teams had tough days this week. The Citadel lost at Samford, and I just hate it for the guys. Their next win will be the program's 450th win, and I would love to see them reach that mileston Saturday at home in front of their own fans. Furman lost a tough one at Appalachian State, too. It was close most of the game, and in the 4th quarter the Paladins were within a touchdown. However, App scored one more touchdown, and my Furman boys just couldn't get it done in time. Not a good weekend for me in football, but I'm looking for a pair of wins next Saturday!