Tag Archives: internet cheers

How To Cheer a Friend Running Her 2nd Full Marathon

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You guys, has that cloning thing happened yet? Does a Time-Turner exist outside of the pages of Harry Potter? What about a TARDIS?

No, huh?

My dear friend, Rachel, ran her second (and she swears LAST) marathon this weekend: the Marine Corps Marathon. As soon as she told me she was tackling the distance again, I was hoping that I’d be able to be there to cheer for her. Once I realized what weekend it was (Victoria and family were coming to visit – YAY), I realized that I’d be cheering from afar.

Thankfully, I’ve had practice in cheering for people running races from a distance!

I signed up for text message alerts for her race and anxiously awaited that first text telling me that she started the race.

BUT IT NEVER CAME.

So, I just started inundating her with my cheering “signs” and hoping for the best (because I’m persistent!).

This was “our song” during the Shenandoah half.

Around this time, she texted to let me know that she was running but not getting alerts either. I did a little sleuthing and found the MCM app for my phone. From there I was able to see her location (although not reliably) and I knew she was at the 10k mark.

As she got further along in the course, she had to hit certain cut off points and times and she did it. I knew that it was getting more challenging for her and she had to deal with a setback when she had an asthma attack. Still she pushed onward!

Rachel really, really likes cats.

Made this one while I was in the parking lot at the dollar store.

Finally the alerts decided to work (near the end, which worked out well). When I knew she crossed the finish line, I bombarded her with GIFs! Like this one:

And this one:

I was just listening to the most recent BibRave podcast and Bart Yasso relayed a story in which Sarah Reinertsen said “Never take a finish line for granted” and I know that Rachel gave this race everything she had yesterday. Rock star status!

This weekend was a huge racing weekend so to all of you who got it done yesterday: I’m proud of you, my friends! Whether it a training run or a race, I’m always cheering for you.

How To Cheer a Friend at Her First Marathon (991 Miles Away)

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First step: Realize that your friend is running her first FULL MARATHON when she posts pictures of herself with an astronaut buddy on Instagram.

Immediately text her and demand to know all the details, including how to track her. Confirm she’s running for funsies and that it’s okay to send her texts throughout her race (yes and yes).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNSmgKIDz3s/?taken-by=thisgirlash_

This was the picture that tipped me off. I don’t know where I’ve been but as soon as I realized Holy schnikes, she’s doing a the FULL marathon I was texting that adorable little hand holder.

Second step: Wake up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning. Stalk the Twitter feed to get all aflutter when you realize that they started the race at exactly 6:32.

Third step: Decide that not only are you going to send TEXTS but you’re going to make motivational signs and text/tweet/Facebook her at appropriate times. Why? Because when you do something, you like to do it BIG.

Lay in bed and create them on phone (thanks to A Beautiful Mess and Word Dream apps) while your husband asks, “What in the world are you doing over there?”

Fourth step: Proceed to drain her battery with cheering! #sorrynotsorry

legends

beautifulmiserable

idiot

If you need help thinking of fun marathon signs, just search Google Images. I started there because it was early and my mind wasn’t fully engaged. As the day went on, I got more creative.

halfwaythere

I’m sure they really appreciated that “only” modifier in there!

gilmoregirlsmarathon

Yeah, they both have to work.

Yeah, they both have to work.

Got a text from Ash saying she was around mile 25, so I sent this one.

Got a text from Ash saying she was around mile 25, so I whipped up this one lickety split. The beauty of cheering via the internet!

And finally, the tweet I was waiting for… they FINISHED the Space Coast Marathon.

262

I am so happy for Ashley and Michelle and their awesome accomplishment! Sure, I wasn’t there handing them shots or beers (um, and I hear that happens on this course) but it almost felt like I was right there along with them.

Ash has promised a play-by-play guest post for Scoot a Doot, so be sure to look for that… and if you see Ash and Michelle around the internet, make sure to congratulate the marathoners!

https://twitter.com/thisgirlash_/status/802964673742180353

Who else was at Space Coast? I hear it is a heck of a lot of F-U-N!