自2008年成立以来，皇家公园基金会半马拉松比赛已经发展成为一个国际赛事。2014年10月12日,来自43个国家的1万6千跑者参加了比赛。当霹雳猫准备参赛时，报名已经截止了。皇家公园基金会在同一天还有一个为猛人们举办的50公里超马，霹雳猫考虑到离都柏林城市马拉松只有两周的时间，就知趣的望而却步了。霹雳猫决定到赛场为参赛者加油助威。


半马比赛是上午九点开始；参赛者从海德公园开始穿过惠灵顿拱门，格林公园，白金汉宫,圣詹姆斯公园，英国的国会大厦,威斯敏斯特大桥,特拉法加广场，水师拱门,再返回圣詹姆斯公园，格林公园，和海德公园。到肯辛顿花园，经过皇家阿尔伯特音乐厅，抵达终点。

1-半马路线：


2-在西敏寺桥：


3-@12英里：


4-终点：


5-军乐队演奏：


6-颁奖：


7-帮忙的志愿者：


参赛者评价皇家公园半马是他们参加过的数一数二的比赛。

后续：马拉松是个全民运动。太阳狗和霹雳猫经过四年的训练,深深的爱上了这个运动。今年夏天，他们和队友分享了“Why do we like to run?". 下面是从他们跑步组织周报上的摘抄:

Why do you run?
This week's story comes to us from a husband and wife team Sunnydog and Thundercat.

It's always great to see family members run together. Sunnydog and Thundercat have come a long way in just a few years. They are both a joy to run with and talk to. I recall first seeing Thundercat run Morgan Hill marathon a couple years ago, she was always smiling and taking pictures as she ran along. Now she has gotten too fast! All the pictures she takes during a race would be too blurry! ;-)

Next time you see them out on the trail say "hi" and share your story. Of course keeping up with them is a big challenge, so maybe having coffee with them after the run is more practical!

Here is their story...
Why do we like to run?

Life is about making new friends, learning new things, and leaving footprints. Running is one of the best hobbies and it fits in our lives perfectly.

Human beings all have untapped potential. We learn through running that when we pushed harder, we ran longer and better. After becoming marathoners, we became more positive and more courageous to take on new challenges in our lives.

Running also changed our life style. It normally takes more than three month to prepare for a marathon. The preparation process, include training, nutrition, and rest, determines how well we run a race. We are more motivated and disciplined to get up early and eat healthy. We believe running is a great way start our day and to explore a city when we travel the world.

Runners are the best friends; on the trail, we talk about running and many other things. We have learned a lot from our running buddies and are always inspired by their stories. After training runs on Saturday, we normally go get coffee. "Running for coffee" has been a true incentive for us to finish some tough runs.

Also, a few of us from our group decided to run the six world marathon majors (Boston, Chicago, NYC, Berlin, London, and a Tokyo) and then maybe run one marathon in each of the seven continents. We traveled together to Boston, Chicago, Berlin, and London and really enjoyed the companionship and the fun experience.

As amateur runners, we are not racing against other people but only competing with ourselves. Our favorite running quote is:

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that."

-Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

谢谢欣赏。祝感恩节快乐！