Race week was insane. A good portion of that was because I moved down 10 days before race day and spent a good amount of time trying to figure out which end was up, but there was so much excitement surrounding the big weekend that I really would not have wanted it any other way. It was such a cool experience to see everything come to fruition, to see the end result of months of work. So many people gave up hours of their time to make this event great. (We had fantastic design/advertising as well – check out The Bright Agency here.) Having been to several marathons in the past, I naively thought I knew what all went into planning/organizing something like this. Ha. Hahaha. Boy, did I have a lot to learn (and still do). I also thought things would come to a screeching halt afterwards. Oh, I'm such a newb. But, let's not get sidetracked...
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| awesome volunteers setting up at the start |
Aside from a "small" shirt order glitch, everything went off without a hitch, and we were able to step back and enjoy race weekend once it arrived. There was so much positive energy at packet pick-up and leading into Sunday morning. The weather was perfect, the volunteers and spectators were fantastic, and the race itself was a blast. I was especially excited to run the course, as I had only driven it one time and was still learning street names and my way around town. But it was honestly so much fun, maybe more so than past marathons for me. I had some doubts about running in a small event, but I loved it. And there were inevitably those moments that I chided screamed at myself for ever considering running another marathon (along about mile 22), but we all know how that turned out. I am already planning #7.
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| elite athletes leading the pack |
One of the coolest things about this race was knowing so many of the runners and watching them finish. Even watching complete strangers cross the finish line was inspiring to me and something that I haven't really done before in a race. It's usually finish and take off for me, so it was really neat to be there until the last runner came through. Being somewhat towards the end of the pack time-wise, it's easy for me to think the "good part" of the race is over by the time I arrive. But I was reminded that each runner has their own goals, their own race to run, whether they come in first or last, each is a unique victory to be celebrated. It was so fun to be able to witness those moments.
By far the greatest thing over the course of the event was that so many new people were able to hear about Mercy Project and the stories of the children in Ghana. It was a great platform and opportunity with which to share our work as well as help out a local children's charity in the process. What started as a small idea (not mine!) back in the summertime completely snowballed into something far greater than we could've imagined. Once again, God used some very ordinary people to accomplish great things for the Kingdom.
A few facts about the race:
• In it’s inaugural year, the BCS Marathon was the largest marathon/half marathon in Texas outside of the four major metropolitan areas (D/FW, Houston, Austin, San Antonio).
• Marathon ranking website www.marathonguide.com currently shows the BCS Marathon with 5/5 stars on organization and course, and 4.5 stars on fans. This is based on nearly 200 reviews from runners and currently makes the BCS Marathon the highest ranked marathon in the state of Texas, over Houston, Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio.
We're pretty fired up about these things for several reason, but mostly because we think this is a great opportunity to grow awareness in the community and raise a good chunk of change for children locally and globally. They are the true winners out of it all.
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| banners along the final stretch |
So, mark those calendars for December 9, 2012. We're adding a children's race on the Saturday before the big race and expect to host many more folks this year. Registration opens on May 15 via
the race website, and we are already planning for another successful event. Can't wait!
*Photo credits go to Mr. Field. You can view these larger by clicking on them.
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