Last weekend Husband and I traveled to Alabama to see what that's all about (conclusion: AWESOME) and to run a marathon. The race itself was more akin to my first marathon - lots of waving and thanking volunteers, chatting and wooting, enjoying the sites, out to have a good time and not break some the land-speed record.
To be sure, the race had a few southern charms. I've never had a race emcee let us know he'd be praying for us. Or been cheered on by Baptist teens bearing motivational signs from the Bible. Or been accosted by disgusting protesters/"spectators" outside Planned Parenthood. I don't know enough about Auburn or 'Bama football or the military to understand the seemingly incomprehensible cheers (hooky hooky hoo!?). Nor has the post-race refreshments ever included two kinds of Moon Pies.
The course was the flattest thing I've ever seen. It was beautiful. The weather (average low is 35, average high, 55) was a unseasonably warm 71, with what-is-starting-to-seem-inevitable? extreme humidity. You can see the haze/mugginess in some of the photos. Speaking of the photos, you might be wondering how we came to have them. My amazing and frequent-flier-laden parents flew in to cheer us on. They were an unbelievable support crew and quickly expanded their cheering efforts to include a few handfuls of other runners, who they came to know as the runners were right before or after us throughout the race.
To us, the residential streets were a fun opportunity for ethnographic study. To local residents, I'm sure they were just extremely boring.
We ran together the whole way, which was a first, and seeing what Husband goes through (oh the cramping!) makes me even more impressed with his strength and determination. We finished in a respectable 4:43. Then we walked the cowboy walk of the victorious, showered off the layers of salty sweat, napped, and headed out for a Thai and sushi dinner of champions.
We rounded out our trip by driving up into the hills and touring some caves.
UPDATE: I found some photos on my parents' camera from Grandma's and added them to that post.
To be sure, the race had a few southern charms. I've never had a race emcee let us know he'd be praying for us. Or been cheered on by Baptist teens bearing motivational signs from the Bible. Or been accosted by disgusting protesters/"spectators" outside Planned Parenthood. I don't know enough about Auburn or 'Bama football or the military to understand the seemingly incomprehensible cheers (hooky hooky hoo!?). Nor has the post-race refreshments ever included two kinds of Moon Pies.
The course was the flattest thing I've ever seen. It was beautiful. The weather (average low is 35, average high, 55) was a unseasonably warm 71, with what-is-starting-to-seem-inevitable? extreme humidity. You can see the haze/mugginess in some of the photos. Speaking of the photos, you might be wondering how we came to have them. My amazing and frequent-flier-laden parents flew in to cheer us on. They were an unbelievable support crew and quickly expanded their cheering efforts to include a few handfuls of other runners, who they came to know as the runners were right before or after us throughout the race.
To us, the residential streets were a fun opportunity for ethnographic study. To local residents, I'm sure they were just extremely boring.
We ran together the whole way, which was a first, and seeing what Husband goes through (oh the cramping!) makes me even more impressed with his strength and determination. We finished in a respectable 4:43. Then we walked the cowboy walk of the victorious, showered off the layers of salty sweat, napped, and headed out for a Thai and sushi dinner of champions.
We rounded out our trip by driving up into the hills and touring some caves.
UPDATE: I found some photos on my parents' camera from Grandma's and added them to that post.
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