Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon--Spectator Report

As of yesterday, as I went for a wet and windy run, I was thinking it would take a miracle to get me to the race to cheer this morning!  At first, it was just going to be me heading into the city to cheer.  Then, I decided I would bring along the baby (he needs to learn to be a good spectator at a young age?).

By the time I woke up this morning, I decided that it should be a whole-family affair!  My costume had a matching piece for my husband, so why not drag  bring him along?  The boys are good at cheering, and they are accustomed to it.  It wasn't pouring rain--it was actually kind of sunny (at 7:00am) so we decided to do it!

In looking for costume bits and pieces (of course leaving this until the morning of the event is smart!) the boys discovered some of their old halloween costumes and wanted to dress up a little.  Oh, my, I think they're going to dress up too!!!

So, we drove away from the house, signs made, to our spot at the side of the Lakeshore.

It was cold.  Windy.  Cold.  And Early.

Here's a tip.  If you are going to dress up in silly halloween costumes for races, don't think, even for one minute, that the elite runners are going to look up, much less notice your catchy signs.  We were planted at about the 10km mark, and we were early enough to watch the lead men go by.  They are so focused on the race, that they didn't notice us:

The whole family, dressed-up!

Really, how could they not stop and take a look at everything that was going on!? I know, "records to break", "prize money", "first place", blah blah blah.

After not long, the runners started coming in big packs and we were in spectator heaven.  Er, not so heavenly when you are trying to scan the crowd for friends, but nice nonetheless.

We spotted a few friends, which was awesome.  It is so inspiring to see people dedicating themselves to a race like that.  Any length of race is great to watch.

Then your hands start to get numb from holding a sign in the wind :(

Our boys were Nemo.  They were supposed to be holding a sign that said "Just keep Swimming or Running" but they kind of ran around the whole time.  At least they were warm.  People loved the 2 little fishies though.

My husband and I dressed as Dorothy and the Scarecrow and held a sign that said, "Your Not in Kansas Anymore! Go Runners!"  Lots of people laughed, which was exactly what we were hoping for!

One guy thought I was "Wendy" from Wendy's.  Hmm.

All in all, a fun, inspiring day.  Especially my friend Cheri, who ran her very first half marathon in 2:02!!  I am so proud of her for doing such an amazing job.  I think it was even her first big race.  Wow, inspiring!! I wish I had a picture of her, but she buzzed past us so quickly that I just wasn't fast enough!


Happy Running, or warming up if you were out there in a dress and Ruby slippers like me ;)