Cheering for Cindy

I believe I gave you ample opportunity in this post to sign up to have the most incredible morning of your life with me on Saturday, April 13.

If you did not take me up on such an unbelievable offer, that can only be labeled as "Your fault."  I will wait, while you kick yourself. (If you don't live in Charlotte, you can skip the kick.)

Now, let me tell you what an incredible morning Amie, Cara (the only two smart enough to recognize a fun opportunity when presented to them) and I had yesterday.

Saturday morning, we rose before dawn, armed ourselves with coffee and Krispy Kreme and headed to mile 2 of the Charlotte RaceFest Half Marathon. We pumped up this Jonas Brothers song on the way there to get our energy up.*  I wore my awesomely pink wig, Cara wore her purple tutu and Amie, well, Amie showed up.

I've got to give credit, Amie and Cara did not need much training.  They understood we were there to cheer and cheer we did. We screamed and screamed and screamed, so much that Amie had lost her voice by the end of the first stop.  Things like:
"You are awesome!"
"Look at you - you are running!"
"Looking strong!"
"Looking good!"
"We love you!"
"That runner's on fire!"
"You are amazing!"
"Way to work that downhill!"
"Way to run!"
"WHOOOOOOHOOOO!"
"I want to be like you, when I grow up!"
"Your perspiration is my inspiration!"

Among others.  You get the picture.  We also gave out a fair number of high fives.

We stayed at mile 2 from the very first runner until we saw our friend Cindy.  After that, we took off for the next stop. We were the perfect team: Amie navigated**, I drove and Cara spotted street signs for me***.  About two miles down the course we stopped, we jumped out, ran for the course and immediately started screaming encouragement.  We did this each time, staying only until we saw Cindy and then taking off for the next stop.  Here's what we looked like:

We were able to see Cindy and the runners before her 6 times on the course and again at the finish line. Strangers began to recognize us by the second stop and you could see them light up when they saw/heard us.

In the end, we watched Cindy cross the finish line of her first half marathon after running strong THE ENTIRE TIME. I was so excited and jumping up and down that I forgot to take a picture of her crossing the finish line (the one fail of the morning).

Cindy, the Amazing, in yellow

As we talked to Cindy about the race afterward, we were continually interrupted by the strangers we had cheered for, thanking us for our support and wanting to take pictures with us and our signs.  Many, many strangers said that our cheering helped them keep going and they kept looking forward to seeing us again.

Now you might have read this account and thought, "Oh that sounds nice." or even "how fun!" but you might NOT be reading it and saying to yourself "THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE MOST FUN WAY TO SPEND A SATURDAY MORNING, WHEN CAN I COME DO THIS WITH YOU, JILL!!!!???!!!" And that's okay.  Because reading this blog does not even begin to capture how fun it is to cheer for total strangers or how amazing it is to see them smile gratefully.  I don't even think Amie and Cara really understood how great this adventure was going to be when they agreed to go.   But they understand now.  So, next time I post an opportunity like this, you might want to jump on it.  Just trust.

That being said, if anyone out there is planning to run an endurance race (half marathon, marathon or tri) and wants a few race cheerers, let us know and we'll be there.  Here's a few of the pics we took at the finish line.

Shelley, pictured here, is not a stranger to Cara and Amie,
but we didn't know she'd be running today. Bonus cheers for her!

This man loved us and was the first stranger to request a photo.

The guy next to Cara wore the Batman mask through the whole 13.1.

*I don't know how you feel about the Jonas Brothers, but this song is AMAZINGLY FUN! Be warned: you will be uncontrollably compelled to dance if you listen to it.
**If you don't know Amie, she is the best navigator/map person I know.  And that's saying a lot, because I'm not to shabby with directions myself.
***Even with my contacts in, I could not see as far as Cara.  I attribute it to her young eyes.