A Spectator’s View Of The Mini-Marathon

Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

I took my brother, Shawn, to the mini-marathon this past Saturday. This would be his first of hopefully many more. There were over thirty five thousand people participating in the event and you can feel the excitement when you’re amongst the crowd. This was the first time I went as a spectator, but I enjoyed it. I’ll be honest, once I got there I wanted to run, but this was my brothers’ moment and it was enjoyable to see him step up to the challenge of running thirteen point one miles.

He had trained for months in advance by himself and had already run the thirteen miles in one of his training days, which definitely helped him mentally.

We found his corral, which was letter O. He signed up for a two hour and ten minute run that established his starting point. I told him that the crowd would get his adrenaline pumping and he would probably run faster than he had planned.

My wife and I situated ourselves about a hundred yards from the finish line and waited. I had never watched the elite runners finish this race and that was awe inspiring. The winner came in at one hour and seven minutes, which is the equivalent of a sub five minute mile all the way. Wow!!!

After the winner came in, Dawn and I were mesmerized at the people who followed. The first fifty were elite runners but we were amazed to see the variety of runners that finished under two hours. There were some gray haired gazelle’s, there were portly people, there were tall and thin and big and stocky but they all ran well. We watched as one man was being held up by two other men. They walked him to the finish as he held on to their shoulders. He looked as if he would have fallen if it had not been for the two men at his side. As he approached the finish line a lady brought out a wheel chair and he declined. He wanted to finish standing up…it was an emotional scene.

We saw all kinds of running styles; some with long leg strides some short, some with arms swinging wildly some were smooth as silk but they were all heading to the finish line. My wife and I kept an eye out for my brother, we wanted to get pictures of him finishing and with so many people it would be easy to miss him. At the two hour mark we kept a keen eye upon the incoming runners. Finally there he was, he didn’t see us but we saw him and I was happy for him. I was able to get some pictures with the handy dandy smart phone though he was in the midst of a crowd of runners.

The experience reminded me; One, that there is a great cloud of witnesses watching us Christians run our race and cheering us on to the finish. Two, there will be all kinds of runners that finish well and some will surprise you. Three, your private training determines your ability to perform, revealing the necessity of a close walk with God.

When all was said and done, Shawn had his medal and said, I think I can do better next time. I love it!