My Little Sister is a half-marathoner!

My little sister ran her first half marathon today.  I am so amazingly proud of her!  She has an awesome blog where she will probably write about her experience here.  Her running gave me the rare opportunity to be a spectator at a distance event.  Usually, I'm running every event family and friends are a part of, so I was really excited for this different point of view.

I promised to drive Jamie to the start line in the morning so that she wouldn't have the take the frigid, uncomfortable shuttle ride.  We left the house at 7:30 with Jamie decked out to run.  I think I was more nervous than she was!.  When it comes to races, I'm the type of person to be there an hour ahead of time.  This gives me time to get some snacks, walk around and find my place in the corral.  Jamie doesn't like to wait around.  Thus, she was completely relaxed giving herself only a half-hour and I was a nervous wreak.

After taking some back streets and stealthily avoiding all the marathon traffic, we dropped off Jamie and forced her to pose for the quintessential runner victory picture.   Life as a spectator is sweet.

With Jamie safely deposited at the start line, my mom, dad and Jamie's boyfriend Chance drove to the Starbucks at mile 2 (I plan ahead!).  I wanted a chance to see elite runner, Kara Goucher, on the course. I saw her.  I tried to get a picture, accidentally kicked over my Americano and ended up getting a picture of her foot.  She wears pink shoes.  That's her foot behind the male runner in black.

Kara Goucher

Kara Goucher's shoe

Aside from my horrible picture, I had a lot of fun.  Jamie ran a fantastic first race!!  We made it to see her three times at the course and then at the finish.  Some places, we made by mere minutes before she ran past. Big Congratulations to my little sister!