A cool, damp saturday morning must be, I imagine, almost perfect conditions in which to run a half-marathon, but as I can barely run a yard I wouldn’t dare venture to say. However I can’t think of more scenic surroundings to torture oneself in than Keeneland Racecourse, especially at this time of year with all the blossoms on the trees, and marvelous colours. Above, are Jake and Jester, the only horses we saw this morning. Below, are the runners – congratulations to them all, I have the utmost respect and admiration, and if I’m honest, envy! I would love to be a runner, I wish I could do it and enjoyed it; I can happily walk all day, even quite briskly, especially if there are dogs and cross country jumps involved but seem to be terminally one-paced!
I’m fascinated that just like event horses, runners come in all shapes, ages and sizes, and have incredibly varying gaits ranging from smooth, efficient and athletic to well, we were standing near the finish, maybe that had something to do with the hobbling, limping, twisted strides we saw on some of them!
Just as varied as the gaits is the choice of apparel
You can express yourself via logos on your top, or a cap; long socks were popular.
Of course there was a ton of support for the Big Blue Nation today (Go Cats!)
Some people listened to headphones, others were just “in the zone”. Harry, my son, entertained himself by seeing how many runners he could get to “high five” him as they went by – in about half an hour he counted over a dozen; many thanks to those competitors who made his day.
This lady’s kids were next to us cheering her on proudly and enthusiastically,”Come on, Mum, you made it, you did it, Go Mum!” it was a very sweet moment!
There’s always one!
This poor girl threw up about two seconds later. Whereas I spent the rest of the day berating myself for not being a “proper” journalist and turning away from the money shot (!), I just couldn’t do it, poor Harry saw the whole thing and was half horrified half exhilarated and was boasting to everyone he saw thereafter that he saw a real person real vomit! She did go on to finish the race.
Toe shoes!
We saw leg warmers, arm warmers, gloves, all sorts of stop watches, GPS, ipods, etc I do like the gadgets and accessories, and just general “kit”
Our favourite, of course!
Congatulations again to everyone who took part, it was certainly an inspiration to watch you. Go running, and Go Eventing!
