April 19, 2011

Competitive Sign Making

As I mentioned before, my friends as I went out Sunday to cheer on the New Orleans 70.3 Half Ironman.  The goal was to make people smile.  Anyone that has competed in endurance events appreciates the brief reprieve that can come with a good laugh mid-race.  Someone in costume, a funny sign, or people enthusiastically cheering can buy you a minute of energy, laughter or distraction from pain.  So we parked ourselves around mile 10.5 on the run and began our own competition in a lesser known sport:

Competitive Sign Making 

It's hard to tell but in addition to laughs we were handing out pretzels and ice.

Notably, we got about as many chuckles from the experience as the runners did.  Quite a few people threw some zingers our way, so we started keeping track.  Among the best hits were:
  1. (After shouting "Keep it up!")  "I can keep it up all day.  You always leave me smiling & satisfied!"  <wink>
  2. "You sound like my wife."  (VERY popular response)
  3. " 'This hurts.'  Is that what she said?"
  4. "This is so hard!"  (Points at us to get the "That's what she said" response.)
  5. (And after grabbing some ice) "Ooo!  Big hunk!  I'm a big hunk!"  <winks>

We were told by a bunch of people we had the best signs, so I'm gonna chalk that up as a win.  Sweet!  We also came up with some great ideas for next time.  What's your favorite spectator sign?
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14 comments:

  1. JonApril 19, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    Thanks for being out there and cheering everyone along at that race. I remember mile 10.5 very well when I did it last year. That's right when you get onto Esplanade and journey into the French Quarter, right?

    The "That's What She Said" sign is the BEST!!!

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  2. AnonymousApril 19, 2011 at 1:39 PM

    Ha! Love it! And 10.5 is a great place to be. Ohh the pain.

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  3. Margee PratApril 19, 2011 at 4:09 PM

    "Skinny jeans ahead!" I laughed for miles.

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  4. Stephanie AnneApril 19, 2011 at 4:27 PM

    When I was running the RnR New Orleans, I saw one that said "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon" haha i loved it!

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  5. chris mcpeakeApril 19, 2011 at 4:36 PM

    way to get out there and support.

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  6. LisaApril 19, 2011 at 6:33 PM

    You are definitely super creative!!!!! AND - I love that you share that creativity with racers. I am totally not creative, but I love reading these kind of posts from you!!! Keep up the cheering - I know EVERY racer REALLY appreciates it!
    It wasn't the funniest sign, but I did see one that said "One step at a time" around the 11.5 mile mark of a half - it was really at a challenging point - meant a lot to me. I haven't been to many "BIG" races so there haven't been a lot of signs, but this fall I'm doing BIG races - I'll keep an eye out and let you know :)

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  7. Heidi Austin, PT, DPTApril 19, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    i remember seeing those signs! my favorite was the charlie sheen one that said charlie sheen said you are winning lol :) thank you for your cheers!

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  8. ElizabethApril 19, 2011 at 9:58 PM

    love this! maybe you should start a company :)

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  9. AlyssaApril 20, 2011 at 12:32 AM

    Hahaha!

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  10. Being RobinsonApril 20, 2011 at 9:39 AM

    this is awesome, i definitely appreciate some funny sign action during a race. nicely done!

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  11. KimApril 20, 2011 at 2:38 PM

    Heidi and I BOTH talked about your signs after the race and how funny they were!! Thank you for the great laugh out there!! Sorry I missed you!!!

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  12. AliciaApril 20, 2011 at 2:43 PM

    Hysterical! Love the Charlie Sheen one, too. Going to have to both at my next spectation station. Thanks for the laugh!

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  13. sassafrassslsApril 20, 2011 at 2:49 PM

    Hahaha! I can never really read the signs when I'm racing because I don't wear my glasses. This has inspired me to attempt a race with them on, just so I can see what the signs say!

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  14. fundersonApril 20, 2011 at 5:28 PM

    awesome...

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