Vicarious Blogging and Marathon Postcript II

I asked my DC-via-Madison friend, Melanie, for her take on last week's Green Bay Marathon. Below are her thoughts/impressions and some pics from the event. I'll add more pics as they come in...and if I ever figure out how to use Picassa, perhaps they'll appear in a handy-little slideshow on the right-hand side of this blog someday.

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My sister Janet giving me a note from my high school cross country coach to open before the race with some very good advice ... 1) You will be excited at the start. Don't go too fast in the first half. 2) Drink early and drink often.

Sara Bork obviously ran this thing before ... because she knew EXACTLY where to plant herself - and knew where to tell my Mom and Dad to wait. Right after Beef's (seriously, we went to drink at that place???) in De Pere, all along the long, long, windy and lonely Fox River Trail that never ends, and again right when the "Let's get this thing over with" mantra really kicks in post-mile 20.

Kelly, Andrew, Stephanie, and Rob cheering me on via text message from Washington DC ... with something like 14 texts coming in over the course of the race from "Mel, you're hot," to "Finish strong." Those were great to read on water breaks.

My cheerer-in-chief decked out in Tommy's winter gear including hat - appropriate as it may have been given the temperature - at mile 22. And mile 23. And mile 24. And mile 25. No one was more pleased to be outside marathon spectating that day.

Running and chatting along part of mile 25 with a woman who was on her way to a PR after she interjected my dismissal of a cheer because ... "Yes, I was doing awesome because SHE was doing awesome."

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And here's a picture from the victorious first-time marathon finishers (from L to R): Melanie, Christine, and Lindsey.

Posted by Erin 1:20 PM

9 Comments:

  1. Unknown said...
    I find this "Melanie" character intriguing and certainly hope that she makes more appearances in this blog.
    The Schwenzen's said...
    Yeah Melanie!!! Congrats on the finish, I am so impressed. I enjoy reading your blog erin, glad Melanie shared it with me!
    Jill
    Anonymous said...
    Congrats!! I can picture the exact route you ran and I am SO impressed. Mel is a rock star! :) Noelle
    Unknown said...
    Nice guest blogger/runner section...I'll have to think of something amazing to get a guest appearance of my own!!
    Unknown said...
    From another DC-via-Madison friend, congratulations all around. What you missed with the text messages is that in the background (or at least in my head) the Cake song "The Distance" was playing.
    Anonymous said...
    I can barely imagine walking 26 miles, let alone running it! Very impressive..my goal before 40 is to do one, so hopefully we can train together when the time comes :) love, msb
    Anonymous said...
    i do like the pictures on here now. good job girls. @>--->-----
    Angela said...
    Melanie, I had no idea that you were training for and running a marathon. you totally rock! Congrats.

    Erin, love you blog.
    Angela
    Anonymous said...
    Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

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