Sunday, October 2, 2016

Day 9.266: Exile #2's Sunday Column #125

Exile #2 writes...

At last, today was the day of the Maine Marathon. Exile #1 seemed to have managed to avoid illness and injury, and he set off first thing this morning for the start line in Portland. Thanks to a nifty app, we got updates when he started and each time he passed a mile marker. When he was about two thirds in, we headed into Portland ourselves to await his return.

It was cool and cloudy - just what Exile #1 had been hoping for - but slightly chilly for waiting around. Fortunately, we could see he was still on track and would hopefully arrive within the half hour. We bumped into a friend near the finish line, who had come to cheer on a friend in the half marathon, and the young Exiles enjoyed watching all the dogs who had come with their spectators. 

Finally, we saw him round the corner. As usual, it was hard to miss him because he was wearing turquoise shorts, an orange shirt, and a green hat (Exile #4 had reassured him that we'd just look out for the fashion disaster). He cleared the finish line close to his personal best. He would have preferred to better it, of course but we thought he did brilliantly!



2 comments:

  1. Well done on both bold colour combo and athletic achievement. I'm wondering what was playing through the headphones?!

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    1. I had a playlist picked out for the occasion. First time I'd had music in a race (and only the third or fourth time on any run) but I knew the course would be lonely in the middle and thought it might help to keep me moving along. I started it up around mile 15 I think. I'm pretty sure I'd stopped the music by this point, but didn't bother to try to stow the ear buds.

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