The Santiago Marathon was a couple of weeks ago, and a leg of the course for both the marathon and half-marathon was a block away.

Sudoku, Doodle, Rosebud and I walked around the block just in time to see the tail end of the lead runners skirting by.  We stood on a street corner at about the 13km mark of the 42km race with a few other spectators to cheer on runners as they passed by.

I’m always struck by the diversity of people who attempt this 26 mile run: young, middle-aged, over-the-hill — they are all present.  Rail thin, overweight, long and short-legged…it’s a mixed, motley crew.  They all are suffering together.  I prefer to just admire them from the sidelines. 🙂

Doodle jumped in and ran a short piece while things were still thinned out.

Santiago Marathon bandit

After a while our hands got tired of clapping, and the kids stuck out their hands from the sidewalk to offer a high-five.  Some participants would make a bee line for our side of the street so they could get that encouraging “atta-boy”.  Except we didn’t say that.  We said things like, “Animo!”  “Se puede!”  “Vamos!”  Here are the three kids lined up, ready to high-five.

high-fiving at the Santiago Marathon

We kept looking for my friend Andrea who was running the half-marathon but never saw her.  She later told me that she saw us “animando” (encouraing/cheering), but she was on the other side of the road, and the crowd was pretty thick at that point.