My Girls!

Today was the big day. All the training, all the blood, sweat and tears, and all the hard work finally came to a head with the LA Marathon. 26.2 miles. No, I didn't run this race, but I'd be a terrible friend if I didn't go support those who did. After all, they gave so much of themselves!

And I wasn't the only one. A group of us in Orange County decided to go together and meet another group from LA to form one large cheering crowd. The Orange County contingency met at the train station for a ride up to Los Angeles.
We met up with our LA tour guides who were waiting to take us to lunch. What a large cheerful looking group we were! Special shout out to our fabulous photog, Jon who tested our his new camera and skills on this day trip.

Our illustrious tour guide, WeezerMonkey took the lead and we headed to one of her fave spots, Phillippe's for their famous sandwiches. She does a great review here, so I'll let her words to the talking.

Jon and I each got a turkey sandwich and split some macaroni salad, which Jon swears might be the best he's ever eaten. There were so many of us, we headed to the rooms upstairs. "It's like a mental institution" WeezerMonkey informed us. But in truth, it was more like a school cafeteria complete with long tables and miniature stools. It was all I could do not to instigate a food fight.
We were tracking my girls on our cell phones, and after lunch it was about time to head to our cheering area because they'd be getting there soon. So WeezerMonkey led us over to the subway and we rode over to the marathon. Because of the large crowds, we ended up splitting into two groups so that we could all have front row views and our signs could be seen. Here's the view from our cheering section of the other cheering section.
After a bit of a wait, the first of the pack arrived. Diane (purple) and Andrea (pink). We knew they'd be first and we were ready. We yelled, we screamed, we waved. By this time they had already ran 26 miles!!!
We anxiously awaited the next group, Kim and Cat. We saw Kim first. But at this point the camera started being weird, so I apologize for the blurriness. I promise it's Kim. Even though, when did her hair get so blonde?

Kim was smiling and laughing, but where was Cat? We started to worry a bit only because we had talked to Cat's husband a little earlier and he said she was really hurting around mile 19. We were 7 miles past that. Around this time Diane and Andrea had made their way over to us. They didn't look like they'd run 26 miles. In fact, both looked better than they did after the half marathon.
It felt like forever before we saw Cat's husband run out and scoop her off her feet in a huge hug. This time the camera got a bit overexposed, so you'll have to trust me again.
Now, we had all been warned/were experienced that Jessica was not a fast runner. She reminded us almost daily about her frustrations at not being as fast as the other girls. The girls from Orange County began glancing at their watches nervously because we wanted to catch our train back and not be stuck in LA till 9:00 PM. I called WeezerMonkey who assured us that based on their tracking, Jessica and Aline were only 5-10 minutes away. We didn't believe her. I mean, Cat had JUST passed us, and the other girls complain of being so slow. As soon as I turned to give the pronouncement we SAW THEM! HOLY CRAP! None of us were expecting to see them so soon. They were right on Cat's tail!
Meanwhile - how fricking skinny does Jessica look in this picture?

The one waving is Aline, you know, the one who didn't think she could run a 6 mile? Here she .2 miles away from the finish!!!!!

After the race, the LA girls headed to my girls' hotel to give them goody bags and hear the details, while the OC girls headed to catch their train back. The fabulous Wan acted as our guide on the scary subway.
And then we were on our own, waiting for our train back to the bubble.
It was a great day, and I'd like to say I'm proud of my friends, but why should I get any credit for their hard work? They're the ones that should be proud. I'm just lucky to call each of these amazing women my friends and I'm bursting at the seams with excitement for them. After all, I knew they could do it all along.