Mara-ton, A Ton of Fun

The US Olympic Marathon Trials were today in Houston so we decided to watch and cheer the runners. I follow mens distance running a little bit (probably significantly more than the average person but far less than a true fanatic), so I was excited for the chance to see a few of my favorite runners. Excited enough that I made my very first sporting event signs. Here they are:

This was for Ryan Hall. Hall holds the fastest US marathon right now and is famous for his Christian beliefs. He has no coach and claims his training is based on the Bible (he takes Sundays off, has some kind of biblical diet, etc.). People dismissed him a couple years ago when he decided to go coach-less but he came back and ran an American marathon record. My friend Peter Smith suggested I make a sign that read: "Ryan Hall. No Coach. No Problem" I really liked this idea but ultimately I didn't want to get in his head if he had a bad race. I didn't want him thinking something like "Oh man, maybe it is a problem that I don't have a coach." In the end, I felt like Hallelujah was good--succinct, personalized, and Christian.

This was for Dathan Ritzenhein. I gave this sign to Cathryn so that she could cheer for Ritz. My friend Peter suggested this sign and I liked it. Ritz ran the Olympic Marathon in China (along with Ryan Hall and Brian Sell [I believe]) and was the first US runner in that event. I like Ritz because he seems like a typical runner to me. He has been injured lately and was lucky to get in enough shape to be a real contender for this race. I liked this sign because I imagine "Inherit Zen" is Ritz's running mantra. Many elite runners have mantras they repeat to themselves during a race and many will keep their mantra secret. How crazy would it be if you were running and some girl was waving a sign with your secret mantra all over it! If the mantra was "Inherit Zen" you'd be like, "Whoa, I have inherited Zen--my thoughts are now universal thoughts. My consciousness permeates all. I have transcended running." "Inherit Zen" is also nice because it is an anagram for Ritzenhein which by its very nature is succinct.

Although I purchased one more poster board for Willa to hold, I never got around to making the sign. The sign would have been for Meb Keflezighi. I really like Meb because he seems like such a nice guy and he won the New York Marathon a couple years ago wearing a cool USA singlet. I couldn't ever think of a sign that would do him justice and I ran out of time. Also, because Willa was going to hold it, I wanted to make sure Meb would see it and think, "Look at that cute baby holding a sign for me. I think I will give her a pair of signed Sketchers racing shoes."

The US women also ran today. I don't follow the women as closely but Shalane Flanagan won which made Cathryn and me happy. The real story for me in the women's race was when a woman stopped to vomit right in front of me. It was sort of gross, but since I have puked at a race before, I was not bothered. Plus it was the Olympic Trials! I offered her a drink of water from the above pictured water bottle which she happily accepted. I estimate that she drank 100 ml--just enough to take the edge off of that foul taste. As you can see from the picture, the bottle was still pretty much full when we took it home. Even though it is hard to resist drinking from a BYU Splash and Dash First Place prize, the drink becomes less appealing when someone's barf lips touched the rim.

The course was a loop so we actually saw the runners come by three times. This was very exciting for me because we chose a spot with very few spectators and tall buildings on both sides of the street. Such conditions were ideal for the runners to hear my yells and pay attention to my signs. I can yell pretty loud and it sounds even better when my voice is bouncing off the walls of tall buildings. For the first pass, I got out on the street and yelled at Hall. I'm pretty sure he liked it but he also gave me a warning pointing gesture to back off. This was only mile 7 so I can imagine he might have been a little cautious about over-zealous spectators ruining his chance to qualify for the Olympic team. The second pass was pretty good, but I couldn't formulate a proper cheer with my favorite phrase, "running with those pistons he calls legs." It is more of a phrase you use when talking to buddies and less of a phrase you can use when shouting at someone at the top of your lungs. However, I really let it go on the final pass because there were hardly any spectators at that point (meaning the two guys who were next to me had left) and the racers only had a mile to go. While I yelled loudly at Meb (who looked at me quizzically) I ran out into the street within mere inches of Hall, waving my sign over my head. I told him "Heckuva Race, Hall! Heckuva Race!" and other encouragements. I'm pretty sure he smiled at my efforts. When Ritzenhein came by, I had his sign too (he was in fourth place and Cathryn was just getting back with Willa). Since the top three qualify for the team, I yelled for Ritz to "Get 'im!" referring of course to Abdi Abdirahman who was in a surprising third place position. With a mile to go, I was really hoping to inspire him to push past Abdi. I screamed as loud as I could, but to no avail. He ultimately finished fourth but in what I've heard was his personal best time.

Meb ended up winning in a personal best time with Ryan Hall second and Abdi third. Cathryn and I enjoyed getting out with Willa to see the spectacle. For those of you who love to hear stories about marathoners soiling themselves during a race, yes we did see a guy running with soiled shorts. I noticed him at about 7 miles. He had a long way to go before he could apply some of the diaper cream we had in our bag.