Cecilia and her fans
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Cecilia and her fans |
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When
I met Cecilia in 1998 she had just started running. We both worked
for Schlumberger in Houston, and the engineering campus included a 1km
running trail through the forest. I had routinely run at lunch for
several years, and I began running with Cecilia several days per week.
We had just started dating, and many people questioned if I was more interested
in running or in talking to Cecilia - we have smart friends, and they are
very hard to fool :). The most suspicious evidence was that Cecilia
only ran 1-2 laps, and at a very slow pace. I normally ran 10 laps.
To make up for my decreased lunchtime mileage, I began running after work
as well. Cecilia felt bad about my double workouts, but I insisted
that it was no big deal - I received a lot of grief for this from my friends.
Once our relationship had grown to a steady level, I eventually went back
to running my 10 laps at lunch (without her). This was proof of my
true original intentions....oh what we do for love.
The Senart Marathon
was run by no more than 1000 people. Despite its small size the race
was very well organized and adequately staffed. I 
have
run small marathons in the past that were poorly supported, and proved
to be a bit stressful during the final critical miles. The Senart
race started in the town of Tigery located about 20 minutes by RER outside
Paris, wound through the countryside, and ended in the town of Combs La
Ville. It passed through many small villages, forests, and farm fields
- the style of the route reminded me of our weekend long bike rides.
I accompanied Cecilia to the start with my bicycle, then followed her alongside
the course. The weather was perfect - cool, dry, and mostly sunny.
It was ideal for both the runners and the spectators. Our friends
Maria and Amy met me at the halfway point with their bicycles, and Rich
joined us (also on his bike) shortly thereafter. The course was open
enough so that we could follow Cecilia continuously, but to avoid distracting
her too much, we biked ahead and waited to greet her every few kilometers.
Cecilia opened up the first half of the race in about 2:11, right on pace for her desired time of 4:30. As she reached the 30km point I worried that she would struggle with the infamous "wall", but she never faded, and maintained a relatively even pace right to the finish. She crossed the line in 4:24, beating her target 4:30 by a good bit. I was super impressed.
Now that she has finished her first marathon, people are already asking
her when she will try another. Cecilia usually replies that she has
no idea, and that it probably will not be for a while. Her response
reminds me of what she said when she could only run 1-2 laps around the
Schlumberger track in 1998, and we all know how that worked out....a few
images from the race:
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