Runner's envy

I was standing on the side of the road yelling "Gambare!" when I realized that I am weak and lazy. Three of my fellow ultimate frisbee teammates ran passed, well on their way to finishing under the two hour mark of the Kyoto City Half Marathon. I was supposed to be running too. I signed up, they sent my number in the mail, and I got my free towel, but for these following reasons, I decided not to run. Let me consider these:
Excuse #1. I haven't run more than five miles at a time in three months.
- For the first half marathon I ran, I hadn't run more than two miles at a time in three months, and I finished in a little over two hours. I have become weak.
Excuse #2. I have a huge important frisbee tournament next weekend. I don't want to be sore.
- I was only sore for three days after the Boston Marathon. Albeit, I had been training for months. I have become afraid of pain.
Excuse #3. Bad knees.
- This is the excuse I use anytime I don't want to do physical activity. If I would just do my stretches and physical therapy, I wouldn't have this excuse anymore.
Excuse #4. I have a cold/fever.
- This one is perhaps legitimate. I did go to frisbee practice yesterday, but my team is so ridiculous that we don't do more than five minutes of running altogether. In a five hour practice, I didn't break a sweat. But I think I would find breathing difficult during a two hour thirteen mile run.

So sadly, I had to stand at the side of the road and cheer masses of runners on. It wasn't bad. I knew exactly what many of them were feeling as they passed, as I had been in a similar position before. I knew how wonderful it is to have someone cheer you on.
I cheered for everyone, but especially:
-People in costume. Superman, a cheerleader, a man with a crown, and a guy in one of those t-shirts that looks like he's wearing a bikini (Coincidentally, I believe that was the owner of one of the bars I frequent. He often wears that shirt...)
-The blind runner paired with a sighted runner. I admire both of these people; the blind person because it's gotta be hard to run without seeing where you're going, and the sighted person, who trains for the race not for himself, but for someone else. The partner doesn't even get a number.
-People I know. No one told me that three guys (or more, I might not have seen them) from my frisbee team were running. Unfortunately, as they are older guys, I didn't know their names, so I could only yell a little louder for them.
-People over 50. I hope that I can still run a half marathon when I turn 40, let alone over 50. There was a woman who looked 65 running, and she was in the elite group!

Congratulations to all the finishers, and good try to all of those that got cut short by the time limits and were herded onto buses to the finish line.