The Winner

The Winner
Shaking the hand of a race winner is a rare opportunity.  Shaking the hand of a marathon winner even more rare. Having a brief conversation with a marathon winner as well as runner up is just cool!
I stood against the barrier for around fifteen minutes waiting for the leaders of this past weekend’s run; hoping to get a chance to see the winner. I cannot recall the last time (if ever) I had this opportunity so wanted to make the most of it. The announcer’s cadence picked up after an hour+ of rolling through 1/2 finishers as the marathon leader made his way down the final stretch; I knew I was in position to see the finish! “….and in an unofficial time of 2:35 is Marc LeBlanc. Everyone give him a big hand……”.

As the winner made his way through the small chute to the end he was met by his girlfriend and two guys who appeared to be members of the media. Neither was pushing their way to him nor did they have an army of support–just a couple guys (one TV, one print) looking for a few words.  After they were finished Marc’s gal continued to towel him dry and let him know how proud she was of him. And that was it; no crowds, no crown, no interest by another single sole. Until the runner up trotted up behind him to give him a pat and word of congrats. After that again nothing. My chance. As he was walking out of the corral and around the corner that put him on a trajectory toward us. I left the group and made my way to him, nothing scripted. I held out a hand somewhat pensively hoping for a favorable response. He  stepped closer toward me, took my hand and responded with a genuine thanks then immediately asked how I did. I told him I was pleased with my result then a lot of words came out that were sort of a jumble. I told him I was more interested in how it felt to win. Naturally he said it felt great, it was his first win! I repeated–‘your first race win?’.  ‘Not my first win, but my first marathon win and it feels great!’.

This continued for a few more minutes; banter about various races we’ve each run and back to how we felt at the time. I took the first chance I could to thank him for his time and went back about my business.

The Runner-up
I could hardly believe the runner-up was for real. He was wearing a cotton T and shorts a couple inches longer than typical running shorts. Young looking and lacking definition in both his upper and lower body. As I returned to my group I learned he went to school with a co-worker of one of our group. A three-off. Good enough for us. We made our way behind the food tent and found the runner-up with the co-worker and others. An alum of The Ohio State University and he was full of chatter. Again, not what I expected from a guy who’d just finished second in a big run.

The Group
We had a great group; first timers, PR setters, a bandit, a couple recovering from injury. A great morning had by all.


AniMal