I Cheered (not Ran) at the Long Beach Marathon 2010

I had wanted to put this post up yesterday but I forgot my camera at home so better now than never. I've only ever gone out to spectate a race on a few rare occasions when I wasn't running one myself or if I was cheering on a friend or family member. I had trained for the Chicago Marathon with a great group of running friends who were training for Long Beach and since those two marathons were back to back, there was no way I could have done them both. So since this was a recovery week for me anyways, I went out to cheer and had the great opportunity to pace most of my training buddies in from mile 25 to 26. It was so much fun! It was also great to get some miles in as well without really thinking too much about it. What a lovely day for running it was! Overcast and cool. Wished I had this weather two weekends ago in Chicago. So here are the photos from my camera from this past weekend.

My weekend started on Friday night when I went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant and got this delicious Tom Yum soup since I was still feeling a bit under the weather. It really hit the spot.

Followed by this lovely breakfast on Saturday morning!

I had to get some produce and happened to spot this RV sales lot across the street from where I was eating breakfast with a sign that pointed to a "Farmers Market" inside the lot.

So I went in to check it out.

It was a small Farmers Market to say the least.

Small, as in, this was one of the produce stall...

...and this was the other one. And no others. So I went to a regular market to get my produce shopping done.

My sisters got me these Yorkie socks that I love! Thank you Sister S and K!

Went out to dinner with the Sisters and ET and MC and saw this funny sign for the restrooms.

Then, me and this cowbell went out early Sunday morning to cheer on the runners.

Here I am at mile 6.2 cheering on the runners.

Here is area after you cross the finish line. So much water!

The food trucks were out and serving!

I thought this would be helpful in letting me know where my friends were on the course...but at last..no...it was only for checking if someone had crossed the finish line...failed!

This bridge ran over the finish line area and people had to use it to get from one side to the other. People were really mad because it was crowded!

And here I am at mile 25 cheering and waiting to see people I know.

Here comes the lead male runner.

And there he goes...

Went to a post marathon celebration combined with birthday party. Look at this lovely hand carved creation.

I mean LOOK! Those are little mice carved from radishes and someone did that at home. Amazing and cute! Not to mention delicious!

This soup was served pre-meal and it was really flavorful. A fruit smoothie was also served but I did not have any because there was milk in it.

Check out this delicious spread.

...and this.

and this!

What birthday is complete without cake!

This is just here because I love flowers!

I also love cake!

A lovely weekend spent in Long Beach!