Spectator Report - Parkway Half Marathon

This past weekend was the Parkway Half Marathon and I was out there as a spectator, coach, and spouse. Spectator because my Mom decided to raise money for the Heart Association and run a half-marathon!!! Coach because Richard Hunter was looking for a new PR. Spouse because my wife was guiding a visually impaired runner.

I am more nervous at these things as a spectator than I am when running myself. It’s fun, but is a different experience when you are not in control yourself of what’s going on. Anyway, it was an early morning for me and the kids. We got to the parking lot to catch the shuttle and made it to the start in enough time to see everyone off. Here’s my Mom at the start.

She had been a walker for years, but recently taken up running a few miles at a time. Then a few months ago, she told me she wanted to run a half-marathon and I was stoked! She has worked very hard, been very diligent and it paid off on Saturday. Not only that, she was the (I think) 3rd highest fund-raiser in the group at over $3000. Needless to say, I am very proud of her.

I also caught up with Richard at the start. He has run several half-marathons and marathons and also done triathlon. He is an excellent runner, but has never been able to go under 1:30 for the half marathon and was eyeing a new PR. His guide (Richard is visually impaired) was an elite runner named Austin Weaver, who I knew would have no trouble “keeping up”! Here’s a shot of Richard through the crowd just before the start (red shirt, white hat).

My wife was also running, but not for herself. Another visually impaired athlete was running and needed a guide for the occasion. He was hoping to do it in roughly 2 hours, so I knew Emily would not have any trouble with that. Here’s a shot of Emily and her partner, Arther.

The race was very well organized and they even had some bagpipes and the National Anthem at the start, very cool. After that, the runners were off! And for me, it was 2-3 hours playing with my kids ;-) It was fun, we read, played in the bounce house, climbed trees, etc. Here’s Luci in the tree and Luci and Lance together.

At about 1:10 into the race, we wandered over to the finish to see the winners. The winning guy did it in 1:15 and change. But there were only a few guys who broke 1:20, so it wasn’t a particularly fast field. At about 1:25, I started watching for Richard. He’s a bigger guy and it was fairly windy, but I was still confident he was going to have a good day. He was fit and ready and had a good plan. And sure enough, around 1:29, I saw him coming. Crossed in 1:29:22 for a 2nd AG finish... very nice effort for a Clydesdale ;-)

Then it was over to the bounce house, which was a little crowded for my kids’ taste. So we played some more prior to Emily finishing with her athlete. Then, we found a good spot near the finish and I sat at the edge of the path with the kids. And my Mom made it in 2:45! I was really happy for her and quite proud.

It was a great day out at the races with my Mom finishing a half-marathon, my Wife guiding a visually-impaired runner, and a friend/client knocking substantial time off his PR and cracking the 1:30 barrier!