I spent the morning cheering for runners in the Boston Marathon.
It was amazing to see how fast Sisay Lemma and Hellen Obiri were as they came past. What incredible athletes with such resilience.
But my favorite part of attending a marathon is cheering for the "normal" runners in the non-professional groups. We stood just after mile 24, where the runners had just two more miles before the finish line.
I've never run a marathon, but you can tell from the cramps, broken strides, and grimaces that mile 24 is one of the hardest parts of the race. The runners are SO tired, but the finish line is still miles away.
Our spot this morning was a high-value spot to cheer on the runners. You could tell that the cheers from the crowd buoyed some runners that might've otherwise stopped.
Cheering at a marathon is also such a strong community event. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with many strangers making as much noise as we could to encourage the runners, who were also strangers to us.
At certain points, we saw runners who were clearly relishing the moment. One runner filmed a selfie with the crowd. Others raised their arms to pump the crowd and ask for louder cheers. Some smiled, waved, or gave high fives as they ran.
There are tons of life lessons to be learned from being part of a marathon. Probably lots of career lessons for software developers as well. But I'll leave those to you to think about. For me, I'm still relishing having been there and witnessed awesome feats.