I am not a runner. I know this, and I don’t even pretend to be one, even though I have run on occasion, have completed a couple of 5km runs, and often run in my basement or on the way home from dropping the lils off at school. I am not a runner, but I do dabble in running occasionally. With this in mind, I was tempted to enter a 5km run with my girlfriends at the beach this weekend. We had talked about doing it together when we planned the trip, and a little over a week before we left, a race was found.

A variety of injuries, and maybe a little bit of inertia, kept four of the five of us from running on Sunday morning, but we got up with our friend Barbara to support her and cheer her on. It was early, really early, when we arrived at the beach for registration, but we all chatted to pass the time until the runners set off. Knowing that a 5km run is not terribly long, we quickly got coffee and walked a short way along the course to find a spot for to watch for Barbara.

Minutes after we sat down, the first runner rounded a corner into our view. Instead of just sitting there, we cheered for him. He kept his focus and ran past, but the next runner was now close by, so we cheered for him too. He looked a little sheepish, but smiled and ran by us. More and more people came, and we cheered for them all. Some cheered back, and at least one runner took our picture. It was fun and we were goofing around. Most were very receptive, especially Barbara, who got our loudest cheer.

I’ve never actually gone to a race to cheer on the participants, but it was really quite a cool experience. This was a small race, so we were able to cheer for each and every runner that ran that morning. They seemed happy to see and hear us, and the majority of them noticeably perked up and ran a wee bit faster when we started to cheer them. It was a hot morning and we were fairly close to the finish line, so they were near the end and needing a boost. I didn’t know how easy it would be, but I get it now, I understand why people go to cheer their loved ones, but stay to cheer for the other runners. I’ll gladly do that again!

Four cheerleaders! (thanks Barbara for taking the photo!)