Schmidt Adventures: Katherine's 26.2 miles at the Belfast Marathon!

At the start of the Belfast Marathon. Great signs, Aunt Mary Ellen!

I spent this past Bank Holiday Monday in Belfast, cheering on Katherine as she ran her first ever marathon. We stayed with the parents of her friend Olivia and were so thankful for their gracious hosting. Mr. and Mrs. Reilly live in Belfast and not only let us stay at theirs, but also drive us around and fed us homemade cake! Katherine, Olivia, and (surprise!) Caroline arrived early and spent a few days at the Giant’s Causeway before heading back into Belfast the day before the marathon to get me from the airport. We spent a relaxing evening eating dinner, planning the next day’s route, and watching the great film Made in Dagenham before getting to bed.

Katherine woke before her alarm Monday morning, ready to run. She stuffed her race belt full of goos and gels and dealt with her surprisingly mellow pre-race jitters while I silently praised the Lord that all I had to do was watch and cheer. We had some breakfast and Mr. Reilly dropped us into the city center with a big “good luck!” to Katherine.

Pre-race prep.

It's too early for this! Caroline, Katherine, and Olivia by the start.

It’s fun to watch everyone on race morning… the stretches and nervous laughs and last minute freak outs. We chatted about how colorful running shoes and running clothes in general have become. I love Caroline’s idea that instead of setting the race start up in corrals by estimated finishing time, it should be done by predominant color of outfit so the race start would look like a rainbow that slowly spread out from the start.

The course was set up in an irregular cloverleaf pattern so Caroline, Olivia and I were able to see Katherine before the start and then four times through the course of the race. That said, thank goodness for Olivia and Caroline’s sharp eyes! They were the first to point Katherine out of the crowd so we could yell and cheer. We tried to set up early at most of our viewing spots but inevitable worried that we had arrived too late and missed her. Then someone familiar would run by “Oh! It’s the fake mustache and wig man. Katherine was behind him!” “Yep, that’s tutu guy without tattoos, she was really close to him before!” I thought her gray t-shirt would be a hard shirt to spot but she actually stood out well from all the hot pink and bright blue.

Surrounded by men!

Looking great!

Waving hello from the pack!

The runners as they went past.

The first two times she ran by, Katherine was smiling and looked strong. The third time we saw, around mile 22, was different. The runners had thinned significantly by that point so we could see her coming for a while. She saw us, too, and her lip started quivering. As is the case 20+ miles into running, I think she just needed a hug and reassurance that we were still rooting for her and that yes, she was doing amazingly well! We saw her one last time with less than a mile to go and not only had her smile returned but she instantly processed the bag in Caroline’s hand and exclaimed “you went shopping!”

You went shopping! Smiling at mile 25.

Marathons seem long when you’re running them but WOW they’re just as long when you watch. We saw Katherine, snuck in a coffee, saw Katherine, snuck in two+ hours of shopping and lunch, saw Katherine, and then worked our way to the finish. When we found her amongst the crowd she was looking quite pleased and energetic!

VICTORY!

That said, we did have to make a wee trip to the medical tent to take care of some major blisters on both feet, but Katherine finished in good spirits and without any major injury.