Although the marathon organizers had all sorts of entertainment along the route, we figured we'd be better off at a spot where nothing was going on, and we were surprised to find plenty of street parking within a block or two of the route, so we were early. We ended up, according to the police officer at that point, at mile 16.75. Based on Nicole's estimated running pace, we figured we had over an hour to wait for her. When we arrived, the runners were passing in small groups.
While waiting, it's important to ring cowbells to encourage the runners.
Given there were about 23,000 runners, more and more began appearing in larger clumps.
You can imagine how hard it was trying to pick out individual runners. Luckily, we'd told Nicole approximately where we'd be, and because we purposely piced a spot with few spectators, she found us first. And was kind enough to pause briefly for a picture before continuing along the route.
(Nicole is the runner in the middle--one of these days, I'll learn how to make circles with Photoshop)
Once she'd passed, we left this spot and went down to the beach where the race would finish. Here, it was a mob scene. But we'd arranged a meeting place, and Nicole found us, and still had enough energy for her trademark smile.
Honda sponsored the marathon, and they had a car with the competitors' names on it on display. You might have to click to enlarge the image to see Nicole's name at the bottom of the first column.
And, for those of you who really don't care about pictures of strangers running down the street, here are a few of a gorgeous day at the beach in Santa Monica.
If you want to know more about the race from Nicole's side of things, click here.
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2 comments:
Congrats to Nicole!! 23 000 is a LOT of runners - so glad you were able to find each other :)
Jemi - the organizers did have a special 'find your family' area at the end of the course, which helped a lot.
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