Embrace Me, My Sweet Embraceable You

This isn't me, but look how
natural that hug is.

For many, many years I have been signing up for races and crossing finish lines. And after every race, I have one tradition: THE FINISH LINE HUG. I believe it started when I was a cross country skier in high school and my mom or a friend’s mom was always nearby to congratulate me on a good ski. Those Midwest mothers know how to pump you full of confidence or shoulder tears depending on the outcome of the race.

It might have been more appropriate to get hugs after high school ski races because 1) I was cute, cold, and under 18, and 2) I knew who I was hugging. Fast forward several years and I now finish races sweaty, looking like death, in front of a bunch of strangers. But I’m sticking with what works and keeping with tradition. I will always look for the first volunteer and ask for a hug after every race I finish.

But ever since Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2011, I’ve become a little more conscious of how LONG these finish line hugs should be. Last summer my friend John told me he found a YouTube clip of me finishing at CDA. Sweet – I wanted to see it after such a wonderful race. “It looked like you were hugging someone you knew,” he told me. Nope, I didn’t know the guy, but explained that is what I do after every race. “Really? Because you were hugging him for a long time, like you knew him.” I found out John was right when he sent me the link. Go 9:12 into the video to see me finish and 9:16 to see the world’s longest hug.

Pretty long, huh? It’s probably even longer, but the camera fades out. (They probably ran out of film and had to cut to a new video.)

John later told me he found some guidelines on finish line hugs and how long you can hug before it turns into restraining order. He was joking about the restraining order; here are the guidelines he found on how to give an Appropriate Post Race Hug:

My hug: start at 3 seconds –1 because we are strangers +1 because I am female and the huggee is male = a 3 second hug. Since I more than doubled that, it was beyond appropriate and a really good reason for my friends and teammates to tease and make fun of me.

Big, sweaty finish line hugs to you all!!