Today I played the role of cheerleader, running on the sidelines instead of in the main event. This was an event that I had to precisely time if I wanted to see all the runners I needed to see today, and I spent a lot of time this weekend trying to figure out best places to catch them at one point or another.
But I knew I wanted to spend as much of it chasing Yumke around town on the subway while he chased his dream to qualify for Boston. He's come so far since we both trained for the Chicago Marathon in 2006. (I have actually gone backwards but this is not about me today).
I saw him at the 9K mark, where the half-marathon and marathon routes split up. I took a quick break to try and catch the half-marathoners and made my way to near the finish line. I missed Cousin's finish (she was spot on what I thought she would do, way to go!) but caught R and her sister (awesome!). Walked a few blocks and saw my former boss and his son in the home stretch of their half-marathon together. Hopped on the subway and positioned myself right near work and not more than three minutes later caught Yumke as he hit the halfway mark. The cheering group at this corner kept shouting "BOSTON! BOSTON!", and I chimed in too. As soon Yumke passed by, I headed back up to the finish line and met up with Cousin. We sipped americanos, conspired about doing a marathon together next year (really?) or at least the 30K Around the Bay, and then scooted back into position at the 41K mark to watch for Yumke.
We saw the 3:10 pace bunny go by and I knew Yumke couldn't be far behind. And in what seemed like an eternity, a white hat came bobbing along, and as Yumke approached, our little group went crazy and while we didn't know what time it was and where Yumke stood against the clock, we had a good feeling that it was good enough to be a BQ. Our suspicions were all but confirmed when we spotted the 3:15 pacer run by solo after Yumke (where'd his group go?)
We found this happy guy as he slowly walked through the chute. No doubt savoring the moment.
Congrats Yumke. So proud of you.
