The Auckland Marathon

After much training and reduced beer intake two of my nephews decided to run the Auckland Marathon … AGAIN! Marathon running is not an inherited trait in our family so I blame their mother’s side.

They may have sacrificed all kinds of things to train for this event but today is a charming cold and blustery Auckland spring day and I sacrificed a warm bed to walk to the top of the street to cheer the lads on.

I didn’t take my coat but I did take a camera and one dog and we stood among other well wishers and watched the runners pass. Those runners crack me up. Most are silent and serious. A few are tuned into their iPods, and there were a couple who were tuned into something from another cosmos and looked positively serene. But you always get the talkers:

Runner 1: “He was a lawyer.”
Runner 2: “Was he?”
Runner 1: “Yeah, but he’s been struck off.”
Runner 3: “If Wall Street can’t get its shit together …”

Guys, you’re running a marathon!

Concentrating on thousands of bouncing heads was making my eyesight a bit wobbly and as about one squillion people seemed to have entered this year’s race I was considering calling it quits when the officials turned up, driving a car in the opposite direction to the runners and bellowing (like a foghorn) about staying inside the cones and berating marshals to control their runners.

I love officials. I love their self-importance and lack of shame and I love to watch humans in their moment of glory so I whipped out my camera to photograph the Very Important Persons who were hanging dangerously out of the window of a 4WD. I couldn’t quite ascertain whether these safety officials were WEARING SEATBELTS.

The camera doesn’t rest comfortably in my hands and there’s always that horrible fumbling stage when I can’t get the damn thing turned on. When I finally do it has to go through its warm up phase and say good morning. All the while I’m jigging up and down knowing that the photo opportunity is disappearing. But I got through that without uttering any rude words (for I was in the company of strangers and I didn’t want to let myself down) and I started trying to photograph the officials when the most amazing thing happened.

THE MARATHON RUNNERS WERE CHEERING ME!

They were chanting my name and my chest swelled with pride. I’m famous, I thought before realising it was my nephews trying to get my attention because I was so busy concentrating on the officials that I’d completely missed the lads. I got a couple of pictures and I have just one question: is it really a coincidence that the officials were out at the same moment the family members passed?

For loved ones keeping tabs, they passed my street at 7:10am.

 

 

 

 

Hmmm, those officials don’t seem to be wearing seatbelts and my nephews seem to be running with the girls. Apologies to the lady standing in front of me who appears to have Nick’s arms coming out of her ears.

 

 

Like true professionals they abandoned the task at hand to perform like monkeys for the camera. Nick practises his victory salute and Matt practises his wedding photo grin.