Love 'em or Leave 'em

This morning I ran the valentines day dash with a friend of mine from the gym. This was her first race (Way to go Holly!) and she did great! She started running maybe 6 weeks ago, telling me at the time that she wasn't interested in doing any races she just wanted to be able to run a mile or two. This was an easy race to talk her into, she had already run Greenlake before so she new exactly what she was getting into. "It's like what you did last weekend except this time you will get a t-shirt" (sold). And the shirts are great btw, long sleeve, brown with the title "love em (in fancy lettering) or leave em (scrawled in a muddy footprint)" very classy. We are both going to wear them to the gym on Monday...hopefully others will want to join our running clique.
After the race, loving on her running high, she confessed that she might like to do this again, and maybe sometime try a 10k. And she keeps saying, "i just can't imagine running 13 miles" which makes me think that the half marathon seed has been planted in her mind...
She also confessed to being nervous about parking, getting our race packets, and navigating the crowds. If any of you are nervous about running your first race, it is always easier when you have someone along to share your anxiety with. However, if you are doing it on your own, DON'T PANIC! Start with a small race in an area you have run before...use your home turf advantage. If you will be getting a shirt or a race packet it can be helpful to pick it up early, either the day before or early enough in the am that you have time to walk back to your car to drop the extra stuff. Some races have clothing drops, where you can leave your stuff (like a big warm coat on these cold mornings or the race packet) while you run.
I am sure there is more to say on this point, but my attention span is MMMMMM salad