A good part of my day today was spent at the finish line of the California International Marathon(CIM). Although I have been a spectator of this great event for many, many years the past 3 years, I have worked as an Elite Escort at the finish line. With CIM being a fast course and the Olympic Trials qualifying window open there were a lot of athletes (men and women) gunning for both the A and B standards. Some of these athletes I knew, most I did not. Regardless of if I knew them or not, the highlight of my day was watching athlete after athlete cross the finish line hitting the time they needed to secure them a spot in Los Angeles in 2016. Emotions ranged from shouting, fisting pumping, cartwheels, collapsing and even tears of joy! Not only was it exciting to watch their dreams come true it was a good reminder of the importance of hard work, consistency and dedication day after day. While I have no ambition to run a marathon(at least not any time soon) I hope that I get to experience “cartwheel” worthy moment at one of my triathlons in 2015!
SRA Elite Teammates and Elite Esort Volunteer Group
