Sunday, June 15, 2014

Things not to say while cheering on a half ironman

This morning I headed down to Williamsburg, VA to cheer on my friend Shawn.  I was going to meet Kristi and my three nieces at the run portion.  This was Shawn's first Half Ironman so I was really excited to cheer him on.  The course was really cheer friendly.  The runners basically ran four loops around the park area, so we had four chances to cheer him on!

I got to the park a bit early to start the cheering.  While I was cheering on runners I saw a man that I stood behind at the portapotties at Rock n Roll USA!  How funny!  We bonded as I yelled that to him!  I also saw a guy from run club and cheered him on too.  Talk about a small running world!

Soon I saw Shawn running towards me.  So excited!  He looked great!  He left and right behind him was Kristi and the girls.  They saw him as they were driving in and finding parking.


Shawn looks great as he runs by. 

When you have a sign about beer you should always give it to the youngest child with raccoon ears.

Now the fun was going to start.  Those girls are too funny!  Kristi and I decided we need to classify their cheers into "Never Say that to a Runner" and "OK to Say to a Runner"

In the Never Say that to a runner catagory:

Keep running or you will die! (umm..runners do not like to be reminded of death..they are already feeling like death so please do not use the word die around them)

If you run faster you finish faster! (While this is true..runners are going the fastest that the can at the time..they do not need you to mock their speed)

In the OK to say to runners catagory:

You  are the MASTER!  (many seemed to like this one..or they were just surprised by this one..either way they were smiling as they ran past)

Girl Power! (the girls liked this one!)

Surprise Cowbells (the Cowbells would be shown from behind them..very shocking!)

Was not sure how to classify the yell and the "run faster to get away from my voice" cheer...that one didn't last that long.


Shawn finished and did great!  It was a fun day cheering on Shawn with Kristi and the girls!  Why is it that I am just as tired cheering runners on as I am when I run a race??




1 comment:

Kim said...

At the half that I ran with my son a week ago, there was also a marathon - it started an hour earlier and just did the course 2x. One of the volunteers was trying to encourage a runner and tell her she was almost done (she didn't look at the bib color close enough) - the lady got super mad and said, "NO I'm not, I still have 3 hours to go." OOPS!!!