Lily and Al ran the 5k - because of us. Al has always been a runner. Lily, she's a swimmer. A really good swimmer. They both placed first in their age division for the 5k. Lily won a $60 gift certificate for the running store. This was her first 5k.
Al ran Nolan in - They were waiting for him. Nolan ran 8:36 minute miles. AVERAGE. 13.1 miles. His first. If he would have run the 5k, he would have placed 1st in his age division too. But, he's done one of those before.
It was cool to see my son on the corner, as I turned to run into the finish line standing there with his medal on. Waiting for me, at the finish line.
After the race - the after party, the awards. People watching. We got our picture taken with "Uncle John" (founder of the Kona Marathon). (Oh, and in Hawaii you don't call anyone Mr/Mrs - you call people Uncle/Auntie) We are still waiting to see if we made the island blog. Then the radio DJ got Nolan on stage to congratulate him on being the Kona Marathon's youngest half marathon participant. It was fun, at least for me.
As we all know, the moments that usually mean the most to us, come from some place out of the blue. The place we least expect it. That surreal moment that surprises us:
Nolan passing me at mile 7 (it was a loop) - made my day
Seeing Nolan waiting for me.
Seeing Lily 2 feet later waiting for me too
Seeing Al looking for me at the finish line
Getting drinks bought for us at Huggo's for completing the race
Petra
Petra and her daughter were from Vancouver. Petra came in second the 50 - 59 half marathon. Her daughter was 28. Nolan was laying on the ground. Petra says to me, "he kept me going". Huh? Pointing to the kid on the the ground. He took off fast, and then we got into a rhythm - Nolan paced at 8:36, she at 8:39. "Every time I thought about slowing down, he was there to keep me going". There were tears in my eyes. Petra and her daughter do races together. Petra and her husband have traveled the world doing marathons, triathlons, etc. In fact, they are doing the "7 continents" goal - a marathon on each continent. Oh, I went to Greece with "Marathon Tours" - Oh, we went to somewhere with them too...... Of course you did, circles get smaller all the time....
They leave, we leave. We are all walking to our cars. We run into them again. Petra turns around and says "I just told my daughter, we are going to see them again". And I can't put into words what she meant, or what I felt, but yes, I will run into this person again in life. You know, that random person you meet once and then again you meet randomly AGAIN. On a plane, a boat, or maybe an island......
For a moment.
For a moment.
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