Surprise!

So this morning my two friends, Olivia and Kristen, and I woke up at 5:30am, got dressed, and headed to Knoxville to cheer on our friend Nick as he ran a half-marathon.  We got there while it was still a bit dark and we realized that the race didn't start for another 30 minutes.  So we just walked around an empty shopping center, and needless to say we had a few laughing spells.  Then other supporters showed up and we decided to line up on the street next to them.   It didn't take us long to realize that we should have made a poster, because everyone and their mom was holding a poster for someone.  We then proceeded to stand there and wait for Nick to run by us.  There was only one problem, we didn't actually know for sure if he was running it or not.  He has been having foot problems and he had said something about not knowing if he was going to actually run the half-marathon.  And none of us had texted him.  So we stood on the side of the road praying that he would actually be in Knoxville running the race and not back in his dorm room sleeping like the rest of our campus.  Sure enough, after about 30 more minutes of waiting he ran passed us.  At first he didn't realize that it was us, and then as he got up to us, he realized who we were, and a big grin spread across his face.  We then ran back to the car and drove to Neyland Stadium where the finish line was.  Once again we were nervous.  This time it was because we were afraid that maybe he wouldn't be able to finish because of his foot, or maybe he got hit by a car, or maybe something else happened.  We stood on the bleachers by the finish line waiting in anticipation, the butterflies in our stomach growing stronger with each passing minute.  Every single time that a new person ran through the tunnel, we held our breath hoping it was Nick, but it never was, at least for a little while anyway.  And then all of our fears of him being hurt were washed away with the first sight of him.  We cheered as he smiled, waved, and kept on running all the way through the finish line.  It was such a cool moment and I honestly felt like his mom, I was so proud of him.  We went and talked with him, took some pictures, and had lunch with him.  Needless to say, he inspired me and Lord willing, this time next year, I will too be running across that finish line.  
Things to do in preparation for the next race:
1.Make a poster
2.Bring orange slices
3.Wear pants
4.Bring capri suns