Spectating 101

My sister ran the Indy Mini Marathon this past weekend and I was on spectation duty, I think I owed her since she’s spectated several of my races. It’s the biggest half marathon in the country, and the 8th largest running event in the country. I’m telling you this because I’m not the best person you want to be with in a crowd. But it wasn’t so bad and I didn’t kill my brother-in-law, Doug. Although my obsessive talking might have driven him crazy.

I was the Spectating Queen. I even made shirts. See Doug spectate:

See Runner Susan spectate:

The shirt says “Go Sister Runner Amy Go”. I wanted it to say “Run Sister Runner Amy Run”, but I ran out of R’s and N’s. Just for the record – I IRONED ALL THOSE DARN LETTERS – not that it’s a big deal or anything, but damn are they straight or what?

Doug and I made it to mile 2.5 with plenty of time to spare, no thanks to my superb navigation skills. When we got there someone even gave us cowbells. And do you know what happens when someone gives you a cowbell? Your arm becomes possessed and you ring the bell nonstop. Really, it happens.

We then popped over to mile 11ish and waited for Amy. When we saw her she performed a mini ballet for us. It was cute, but my pictures didn’t turn out very well. After that we met her at the finish line in corral Q right on time just like good spectators do. Amy ran great and said she had a great time.

Read Amy’s BEST HALF EVER report here!

I think I did pretty well spectating. I thought I would be all “It’s not fair, I wanna be running”, but I wasn’t. It was good to watch other people suffer. I kinda enjoyed myself.

Then we did what all spectators and runners do after a half marathon. We went to the riverboat to play craps. And Amy turned $180 into $540! And Runner Susan turned $160 into $400. And Doug? Poor Doug lost $100. At the first craps table, the people there were just plain hateful and we lost $100 in less than ten minutes, so we went to another one and found the “Craps Table of Love” where we won our money back AND then some. Now I’m itching for a Vegas marathon.