3 Cheers for Crowd Support!!

With only one more sleep until race day (that is, if anyone can actually sleep!) there’s another group of people I want to acknowledge:  the crowd.

As someone who has been on both sides of the fence, I have to tell you, it’s actually a lot of fun.  Non-runners, future-runners, and runners alike, who congregate along the sides of the race course to offer encouragement, funny signs, enthusiasm and cheers.  Spectators, if you’ve never run a race, you might not understand the impact you have!  Especially if you’re at the top of a hill, or late in the course, where everyone running by is tired.  They don’t acknowledge you, they might even look annoyed, but let me tell you, they’ve heard you, they need you, they love you.  They just might not have any energy in that moment to show you!

Runners, if you’ve never run a race, you might not know how important this is.  I’ve heard it said, time and again, “I didn’t think I would notice or care, but let me tell you, when there are people there yelling, clapping, calling out to you….it’s just such a great feeling!” They might not know you, you may never see them again, but for that time, you feel like a celebrity.  They’ll even call you by name if you have it on your shirt!  Where else in your life will you ever experience that?

So again, I want to say thank you to the crowd!  Keep shouting, clapping, ringing those cowbells and holding those signs!  Without you, a race would just be a group training run instead of a giant party!