random friday funny

Who needs the Sunday paper?

I've got your funnies right here.

Actually, I've got your funny here. Only 1 story today, sorry.

Of course, it stems out of our childbirth class. I have a feeling I'll be getting a lot of good blogging material from those classes over the next 5 weeks.

Did you know that my sister, Erin, is running a marathon this weekend?!

I'm so excited for her! She's been training for a really long time and will do amazing at it, I'm sure. Unfortunately, the race is in Baltimore (and we're in Cleveland) so I won't be able to actually be there cheering her on.

However, there are A LOT of people who will be there cheering her and the other runners towards the finish line.

To this goal, the organizers of the Baltimore Marathon posted some recommended "Cheer Words" on their website (in case you need some help figuring out what to yell as 100s of exhausted people run past you).

Some suggestions include:

1) “Way to Run”
2) “Awesome”
3) “Looking Strong”
4) “Looking Good”
5) “Enjoy Baltimore”
6) “You Can Do It”
7) “You’re Flying”
8) “Keep it Up”

At the bottom of the list there was a very specific note that read,

NOTE: Unless you are at the Stadium near the finish line, please DO NOT cheer “Almost there”, “Not far to go” etc. After running 26 miles, “almost there” is a few hundred feet from the finish line.

At this point you might be wondering what in the world this has to do with childbirth classes.

Well, let me tell you.

I received the email from Erin sharing all of this info on Wednesday morning. On Wednesday evening Drew and I attended our first class.

At class, the instructor was giving the coaches some advice and very specifically told them:

Never, ever say to her that she's "almost there" or "so close." When you've been in labor for hours, being "almost there" is when you can see the baby's face and recognize Uncle Harold's ears. No time before.

Obviously this wasn't meant to be funny, but I almost starting laughing out loud. It was so similar to the admonishment the Marathon organizers put out there that I couldn't help but find it funny.

Now that I think about it, childbirth is a bit like a marathon.

Except that you can't really train ahead of time.

And they won't let you drink water or eat snacks while you're in the middle of it.

And you get a baby at the end instead of one of those silver blankets.