Everyone that does a marathon inspires me. Every reason why, every hard mile, every day of training that you did not want to do, everything! As I stood outside and cheered, it always amazes me how much drive and will each of you have. There is an image in my head that I will carry with me as inspiration and want to share it with you.
I watched the marathon most of the day. Went home, took a shower and took the dog for a walk. The marathon was over; it was 3:15pm. I live in the South Loop so as I walked to the dog park along the marathon course. I noticed all the clean up crews hard at work. All the water stations were gone, signs were all down, and fencing was getting packed up. I cross over Roosevelt and heard some cheering and screaming. I look over to see a woman finishing the marathon running right down the center of Columbus with a group of her friends standing on the sidewalk cheering her on. I look at my watch…. 3:30pm.
The marathon was technically over but not for this crowd. She turned onto Columbus and weaved in and out of trucks packing everything up. She was going to finish this race and she did as her friends cheered her on! No medal and no finishing time but an inspiration to me and many others.