Friends husband running the marathon tomorrow but she’s not going to watch him

[ML5]

Just wondering - friends husband is running in the Marathon tomorrow but she’s not attending to watch him as she’s busy at home & even if she does go chances are she won’t be able to see him from the crowds she said. Is this a mean thing to do or AIBU to think that

Going to watch someone run something like that is hell on earth. You ultimately have to battle really busy public transport and hoarded of people to find a spot somewhere on the route for a ten second glance of someone you see all the time anyway. Then you either go back home again fighting the same crowds or you try and make it to the end, find them amongst several thousand other people then spend another three hours trying to get home. Stay home and make them a nice celebratory meal would be my advice!

Depends. My friend’s DH runs at least 3 a year. Always training. Always out for a run and removing himself from family life. Running and training comes first.

No surprise that she rarely goes to watch.

Husband is a runner. I don’t go and watch him. It’s boring. Only so many times you can clap and shout ‘keep going’ or ‘you’re doing great’
I stay at home while he goes off and I don’t expect him to come and watch my sporting events either. Couldn’t care less if he’s there or not

Are you the'friend'?

Does he actually want her there?. My BiL travels all over to run. He prefers to travel alone. I think he's just totally focused on himself on race day and the day before.

The spouses of people I know who’ve run the marathon have put up with plenty while the incessant training and chatting about it went on beforehand. I imagine she’s been supportive enough. And with friends like you she doesn’t need enemies.

If this is the thing in Your life that you are most concerned about I envy you your easy life

I’ve watched my husband in so many now. God it’s dull.

Dh had ideas of running a marathon once.

i was not supportive at all. Evenings and weekends fucked because he always needed to go for a run. Left me with the cooking, and clearing every night, and we couldn’t plan weekends cos that was long run day.

I have a colleague who regularly runs marathons. The amount of time he puts into it is insane. He’s single.

If her husband is like mine, he'll have bored the shit out of her talking about this, so she can't be arsed with it all

Do you know how boring it is to watch someone run a marathon? Hours of standing around for 15 seconds of waving.

Is it his first marathon? I’d have been gutted if DH hadn’t come to my first (London) but I’ve done several now and generally don’t have supporters along the route.

I can see both sides. But I would say the London marathon is slightly different from your average ‘long race’. As someone who has completed it twice and I am a novice, not a runner, seeing my friends and family around the course as I completed it was the most amazing thing and knowing people had taken time out of their days just to be there and support was so nice and it really motivated me. The supporters and the crowds are what makes London what it is and unless you’ve competed, you have no idea what it’s like to be cheered on by complete strangers.
However, you have not mentioned what she is busy doing and it is completely up to them what she does. He will have plenty of support along the way regardless.

*edit for spelling

Is he one of those people who does marathons all the time though? If so it’s probably so boring for her to go. And maybe she doesn’t like huge crowds, London will be absolutely mental tomorrow which is utter hell even at the best of times

Nothing more boring than watching DH run. I support him by taking the day off (I work weekends and we have young DC), making sure he eats well in the days before, and help him recover afterwards. He appreciates this more. DC and I have been at the finishing line a couple of times, but it’s not something I would go out of my way to do.

It’s simply none of your business.

My husband and I are marathon runners. We either ran the same races, or supported each other…before kids. These days we enter our own and might go together, might not. Running is a different past time for us than it used to be. I love that we still have a shared passion but also the freedom to do what we want.

you can track them so will see them. My SIL is running, we are all going to support

That's exactly what I thought! As my mother used to say, OP, your knickers are showing.

DH is doing it tomorrow and we’re going, but to be fair, he’s run several this year and wouldn’t care less if we didn’t go. We’re mostly going to experience the crowds and buzz of a big city marathon, his last one was a trail marathon along a deserted beach in February, so very beautiful but absolutely very different vibe…

I wouldn’t go either. Cold and boring standing on your feet for hours. If it was a first I’d watch him start, put a tracker on him (think Strava/Garmin has live tracking that can be shared), go off and do my own thing and meet him at the end.

Haha, my husband does marathons, half marathons and 10ks as his hobby. I don’t expect him to watch me read (my hobby) so I dont watch him.

Do you have a little crush on the husband OP?

there’s a tracker given to every applicant and you can track via the app. We usually go for a few hrs when DB has ran it, but this year with a 3yr old nephew in tow we are just going to St James Park to watch SIL finish.

We went to watch my dad run the London marathon in the 80s and my little brother got lost in the crowds. It’s was stressful!