Happy Friday!

Last week sometime my bestest txted me this website, http://100happydays.com/ saying "We should DO This!"

I have seen these happy posts on instragram. I immediately agreed. =) Who couldn't stand a little more happy. So I just officially signed up on the website. I am starting June 1.  100 days of happy. I shall be posting via instragram but will probably link to FB and Twitter as well because well... I tend to over~do the whole social media thing.

And now that crazy "Happy" Song is stuck in my head... Click below and it can be stuck in yours too... You're Welcome! Hannah LOVES this song and sings it all the time.  Rumor has it her elementary school has used it for their video this year.  I can't wait to see it.



Won't you join me?  100 Happy Days, take a picture everyday of one thing that makes you HAPPY.

 

My pre-happy project picture... Blueberry Iced DD Coffee =) My happy for today.... that and going to see my bestest later. =D

 This weekend its a fun filled Girl Scout camping weekend... See you next week.

Boy oh boy

Today I was dragging when I finally pulled myself out of bed. Everything in me wanted to pull those covers back up over my head. Hannah was insisting we make pancakes for breakfast.  We did.

I felt a little better after some coffee and some serious time in the Word.  I didn't eat any pancakes...just my COFFEE and Bible.

I thought about not running but at the last minute decided to go for it...

Runner's World is currently doing this running streak thing, that I really wanted to do.  The challenge is to run everyday between Memorial Day and the 4th of July. I have already failed since I didn't run Monday or Tuesday...and chances are I will not run on Saturday since I will be at a Girl Scout Encampment.  But I decided that I would do it my way.  Not get down on myself for days I physically can not fit in a run but to do the best I can, and run as much as I can and get as much of a streak going as I can. So there you go.  I laced up my shoes and walked out the door.



How I felt during the first mile...

UGH! I think I am going to die! -Mile 1

 I hate running. This sucks. I think I am going to die. I felt like I could not breath. Like I was choking or something.  Which made me angry and frustrated, and nervous to run the 8K next month. 8K...should be a piece of cake, after all I am a Half Marathoner now! I am seriously worried I am going to get shown up by my mother in this race.  Today I was only attempting TWO MILES. Two, that's it. Get it together! I felt my dark mood growing blacker, my feet getting heavier and heavier. Maybe I will just quit when I get back to my house.

Again today I am remind how much of running is purely mental.  That song "My Lighthouse" came on as I was crossing back over the bridge after I turned around. It made me smile. It gave me a boost. I turned up the volume, hit repeat, made it my prayer and started RUNNING and dancing in my heart.

How I felt AFTER-

Mighty and Powerful! -Mile 2

I felt awesome! I literally was dancing when I got back.  And giggling when I saw my pace.  Despite my ridiculous first mile {walking and all} my over all pace was 10:39!! Just yesterday I made it my goal to try and keep my pace this week in the 11's and be able to run comfortably i.e. not feel like I was going to die before I reached my driveway. 

My pace for my 2nd mile was 10:13...10:13 quite possibly my fastest mile to date...I was elated...I danced some more, and took all these ridiculous selflies.

Shocked, elated and ecstatic!! Done.

So I keep reminding myself of this... My only competition is myself. The only person I need to prove something to is MYSELF! Today I overcame wanting to quit {again} and of that I am PROUD.

mini-me?

"Mom-- I am turning into YOU!"  This was Hannah's statement as we both settled onto the hammock, books and apples in hand.  She went on to state all the ways she thought we were similar.  It warmed my heart, yet at the same time served as a reminder to be mindful of the person I am.  That who I am is also shaping who my children are becoming.

This past week Hannah and I have begun taking evening bike rides together around our neighborhood. I cherish our time together.

Sunday evening as we were putting our bikes away in the garage she surprised me by stating, "Next year, I am going to run the Munchkin Mile."  To which I responded, "It's not too late, if you want to do it this year."

"No, next year I will do it." She repeated firmly.

There was still a bit of daylight left, I decided to go for a little run.  I asked Ryan if he wanted to join me. He declined, but Hannah piped right up that she wanted to run with me. I hesitated but we decided I would run down the the bridge and back (just over a mile).  She would finish her hotdog, get ready and I would stop for her when I passed back by our house.

To my surprise when I got with in sight of our house, there she was eagerly waiting at the edge of our yard.  I waved for her to join me and we continued on together.  Alternately running and walking.  Chatting and laughing.  On our walk breaks she slipped her sweet hand into mine.

Hannah's first RUN

She was so proud. I was so proud of her for trying so hard. Later back home in the kitchen she told me how she really wanted to be active and to make healthy choices. Declaring when she grows up she wants to run a FULL Marathon.

Hannah's cake we made together for our Sunday cookout at Mimi and Papa's.  She took the picture herself, bursting with pride in her creation.

this Girl

God truly has blessed me with some amazing children...

I am running a little behind {per usual these days}.  A couple weeks ago were Mikayla's Spring Concerts. It has been such a joy watching her grow and mature as a musician.

I just love this picture. :) 


Monday night she was inducted into the Junior Honor Society at the High School. 

Hard to believe she is finishing up her first year of High School.  I am so proud of the young lady she has become.

All the NEW Junior Honor Society Members

Here is the video of her Concert. Unfortunately I discovered my camera was dead at the Chorus concert. I was able to take a video of the first song on my phone but that pretty much filled all the memory. So that's it. Its not the best quality because its on my phone from the balcony but its something.  I was so bummed. They did a phenomenal job.



Today we had the opportunity for some quality time, just the two of us.  A definite rarity.   We meandered through TJ MAXX and Kohls.  Lunched  at Panera Bread and picked up our bridesmaid dresses for my sisters wedding.

Yum!

Eli's Quilt

Wednesday night I stayed up late, frantically stitching away. Determined to have Eli's quilt finished, so I could deliver it when I stopped in on Thursday afternoon.

I was successful.

 

I first began the quilt the day I heard the news that there was something wrong with little Eli's heart. He was a mere two days old, the day that should have been his homecoming.  Instead he was being transferred to another hospital and admitted to the NICU. Possible surgery on his tiny heart looming in the future.  My own heart ached for my friend.  Not knowing what to do, feeling like there was nothing I could do. Not even knowing which hospital they were currently at, I went to the fabric store.  Instantly finding the perfect textiles, I headed home with my new treasures to sew and pray for this precious little baby boy.

Eli is now home with his family.  Loved and growing. A precious miracle, as each sweet new baby is.

Yesterday I was able to sit and chat. Forget about the hustle and bustle of life and just be with my friend.  Watching as sweet little Eli slept contentedly on his mother's chest. Trying not to be sad at all the time this busy life has stolen from us.  To instead bask in precious moments together. To know that although right now our paths are so very different, we share the same heart. That we are still best friends, sisters at heart. Nothing can change that.

Jess caressing the quilt with such tenderness and thankfulness.
That is my joy, knowing it will be loved and treasured.

I left with a treasure of my own. A new devotional. The Runner's Devotional. I am so excited to dig into this book. A direct answer to prayer as I have been seeking a new tool to use in my quiet time.

Later in the evening I saw this picture on instagram. It again flooded my world with JOY. Those bright eyes get me every time. :) <3

a bit of a mommy moment...

Man this MOM stuff can be tough. Seeing my little ones grow up is the most bittersweet, heart wrenching, joyful, amazing adventure.

This morning, with delight in his eyes, Ryan announced to me that today was the day that they got to go visit the middle school. Gasp! No, that can't possibly be today. No, we can't be there yet! He laughed and exclaimed it was.

Only a few short weeks left as an elementary student. September he will be a Middle School-er!

 It just so happened that as I passed the Middle School this morning, the buses had just arrived. The doors opened and excited 5th graders bounded toward the school, for their first glimpsee of what middle school life would be like. I didn't see my son but it didn't matter....

My eyes filled with tears. How could it be? My little man is growing up.

Just yesterday, {I swear wasn't it yesterday?!?} he boarded that big yellow bus for the first time.
Oh how I miss that sweet little face. But how proud I am of the young man he is growing into.

Thank you Father for my son. For his sweet, compassionate heart. For his love for You.  Be with him as him embarks on this new chapter of his life.  May he continue to grow into a man of God. Thank you for the privilege of being his mother.

Ryan, I am so proud to be your MOM.

 

The Promise

This morning I heard my grumbling come out of my son's mouth when I reminded him it was Tuesday (thus Trash Day).

It served as a reminder that my attitude has not been what it should. Not nearly. I have expended a lot of energy lately bemoaning the fact my life is not what I wish it was. Its not right. Not by a long shot. Certianly there are things that I wish were different.  BUT there are also so many wonderful things in my life right now. These are the things that need to hold my focus.  A verse came to mind this week and that is my focus this week...

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9 NIV

My other verse for this week is below. That blog I talked about last week, #shereadstruth, every Sunday they have an entry called weekly truth. Its a little devo and a memory verse.  They also include a graphic that is meant to be downloaded on your phone and used for your lockscreen.  A great reminder every time I look at my phone to remember the JOY of the Lord is my Strength.

Friday night I had the opportunity to go out with my mom and 10 other ladies from our Church.  We went to see the movie Moms' Night Out.  It was hilarious! Also it had a great message for Moms (or anyone really).  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.

Saturday I was blessed to be able to go out to breakfast with my mister. That's one of the biggest frustrations right now, us just not being able to spend time together. It was so very nice to be able to sit together over breakfast and just be us.

Later in the day I went out to lunch and shopping with my mom and sister and my girls.

This morning I got out RUNNING again.  I took it easy as I was still a little concerned about my ankle.  But it felt great. I definitely need to whip myself into shape though.  The lack of running the past two weeks has taken its toll.  It was a bit of a struggle this morning but felt so good to be back out there.  My next race is in just over a month.

Put my new 13.1 magnet on my car this morning. =D It is a beautiful day out there!

Dropped Ryan's registration in the mail this morning for the Munchkin Mile. Signed myself up for the Yellow Brick Road Run on June 28. Looking forward to SUMMER!

Don't be so

My devotion this morning was very appropriate. I have been battling my sense of melancholy all week.  The following verse is one I know well. I needed the reminder. Trying to be thankful for the good. 

I recently came across a scripture challenge on instagram. This morning I spent sometime perusing the pictures tagged under the #lampandlight. It did my heart good. I followed it to another tag, #shereadstruth. Which led me to a study on Nehemiah at www.shereadstruth.com. It was refreshing to read through little snippets of what all sorts of ladies were reading, and how God is speaking and working in their lives.

Today's run ended up being more of a walk. My ankle is still bothering me. I decided to stop when I passed my house and mostly walked instead of running. It is such a beautiful day. I tried to enjoy the sunshine and breeze and not be discouraged.

My Sunflowers have sprouted, the promise of summer

ah Wednesday

A welcome relief after Monday and Tuesday. ;-)

Ryan's hair this morning.  I commented on his hair after he got up. To which both he and his father responded that it was being cut off again soon.  I love his unruly, spiky hair so I made him let me take his picture. :) 

Some time getting lost in the Word...

This song randomly is stuck in my head. :) My Lighthouse by Rend Collective.  It is pretty much the song of my soul this week... I just downloaded it from itunes.  I think Rend Collective is the top of my favorites list (today anyway).

My Lighthouse

Rend Collective

from the album The Art Of Celebration 
In my wrestling and in my doubts
In my failures You won't walk out
You're great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
You are the peace in my troubled sea

In the silence You won't let go
In the questions Your truth will hold
Your great love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
You are the peace in my troubled sea

My lighthouse
My lighthouse
Shining in the darkness I will follow You

My lighthouse
My lighthouse
I will trust the promise
You will carry me safe to shore
Safe to shore

I won't fear what tomorrow brings
With each morning I'll rise and sing
My God's love will lead me through
You are the peace in my troubled sea
You are the peace in my troubled sea

Fire before us You're the brightest
You will lead us through the storms

I hate Tuesdays

So I am trying to look for some good.

The weather outside is positively glorious!  For the first time probably since last August I am comfortable in my office without my sweater.  The windows are open and I am basking in the fact that SUMMER is just around the corner.

Ryan wants to do the Munchkin Mile Fun Run as his first ever race. He also hopes to run a 5K sometime this summer and has his sites set on running the Pittsburgh 5K next May when we all go back to run the Half Marathon again.

I went for a run this morning. I was going to take another day off. But I really needed that bright spot of a run to get me through today. Plus each day I was sedentary, I felt like I was loosing running ground I had to work so hard to gain.  Also it just made me grouchy.  Sitting at the table with the sliding door open, doing my devo, the road and my running shoes were practically calling out to me.

I was a little disappointed just after starting out to see they were doing some roadwork or ditchwork or something.  There was heavy machinery in the road anyhow,  I turned back and went the other way. Sad I was not going to take make it down to the creek.

Instead I conquered "that hill." That one on my bucket list. It kinda makes me laugh at how insurmountable it seemed when I began running 11 months ago.  Although even today I just barely made it to the top.  For a brief moment I stopped panting and gasping for breath when I reached the top. :P I am pretty much a wimp when it comes to hills. I usually end up walking. But today I ran it, vowing to start adding it into my usual routines, to try and build up more strength and endurance. As I ran I heard my sister telling me to push myself, if I want to get better...and I DO! So very much, I have to keep pushing.

Today my devotions took me to Ephesians, reminding my again, my inner strength comes from God. I pray that he would give you inner strength and power through his Spirit. (Eph 3:16b) 
And that everything needs to be rooted in love.
Then Christ will live in you through faith. I also pray that love may be the ground into which you sink your roots and on which you have your foundation. (Eph 4:17)
I am reading a different version than I usually do. I received a new Bible for Mother's Day which is "God's Word" Translation.  But I really liked the wording of those last two verses in this version....love maybe the ground into which you sink your roots. That is my prayer today.  That everything I do would be seasoned with love.  That my roots would be so deep in His love that there is no other option.

My verse for yesterday and carrying over into today is Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV 1984).

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

I was struggling a bit with my job(s), and being overwhelmed and at the same time feeling like what I do doesn't really matter.  But this verse came to mind and I repeated it over and over.  If I am working for the Lord, than what I do always matters.

New day

This weekend I was so weary. I felt tired, overwhelmed, burnt out. I sat in worship service on Sunday feeling utterly alone. It was just one of those days. No matter what I did the cloud seemed to loom. I chastised myself, it didn't help.

For brief moments the sun shone on me. When I caressed my best friend's sweet newborn son.  When friends asked me about the race last week. A surge excitement and life returned. Inevitably the exchange ended and I was alone again, feeling empty.

But today is a new day, the sun is shining. Both outside and into heart. A verse from my devo this morning...

God, the God of Isreal, is awe-inspiring in his holy place. He gives strength and power to his people. Thanks be to God!

Psalm 68:35

Thank you Father that my strength comes from you. That you sustain me and carry me through.

We spent yesterday afternoon picnicking at mom & dad's. I am thankful for time with my family!

Happy Mother's Day!

I am so thankful for the mother God blessed me with. 

ups and downs

I hobbled out to the kitchen this morning feeling discouraged. My ankle started hurting yesterday when I went for my first run since the race.  This morning my whole left leg felt stiff.  Although it has gotten moderately better the more I am up and moving. I decided to scrap today's run, take another rest day.  It kinda left me feeling restless and irritated.

My party for tonight has fallen through.  People are just far to busy for silly things like parties, I guess.  I am not too bummed because Hannah really wanted to go to the School Fair tonight, so she will be happy when I get home this afternoon. But the whole thing leaves me wondering if I should just bail on Pampered Chef all together.  Ten years in and its still a struggle.  Maybe I am just not cut out for this kinda thing.  But I love it, so I will most likely keep plugging away and try not to be discouraged by the crazy success I see online of fellow consultants.

I am lonely, I feel like I haven't seen my friends in eons. How I miss the days when we gathered at least weekly around a kitchen table for chatting, coffee and Bible Study.

After the high and excitement and camaraderie of last weekend, today I feel like I am ship wrecked, alone on a desolate island.

So I am looking for something else to strive for. I am looking for another race to run.

On one of our training run through 'Nango, Laura and I chatted about how we wanted to a race in our hometown.  We found out there is a an 8K one in June, which I vaguely recall hearing about in the past.  I looked it up yesterday.  Last year there were 137 runners.  The thought filled me with anxiety. So few runners is almost as bad as the 33,000 in Pittsburgh.  Instead of worrying about being lost in the crowd, now I have to worry about standing out in the measly crew of runners.  People will see me and there is a very real possibility of actually coming in dead last. When I messaged Laura about the number of people in last years run her response was "So it'll be 139 this year ;)".  Indeed.

The other one I have my sites on is in Caz on the 4th of July, a 10-miler around the lake.  Which I think would be incredibly fun and beautiful!  Also with a the possibility of a post race celebratory BBQ at my house with my best friends.

Keep moving forward...

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10

Pittsburgh Half: Nailed it!

A guest post by my sister, Laura:

It’s a good thing my wedding hasn’t happened yet, because I might otherwise feel a little guilty saying this, but this past weekend was the most amazing weekend ever.  On Sunday I ran my first half marathon in Pittsburgh which in and of itself is amazing, but the fact that I was with all the people I love most in life made it the BEST weekend ever.

I requested the day off work on Friday so that Rich and I could take our time and head down to Grammy and Pa’s whenever we felt like it.  But of course, life never works out the way you plan and Rich (who is on a temporary layoff) got a call on Monday asking if he’d like to work for 2 weeks until his contract started back up.  Since he’d be working with one of his buddies and the job was in of all places, Pittsburgh, he jumped on the offer and headed to the Burgh Monday night.

So since plans changed, I ended up working Friday then piled into mom and dad’s van for the 5 hour drive to PA with these guys:

I do have to say though, that they are pretty awesome and other than a few points where everyone in the vehicle was singing a different song to themselves (myself included), I barely noticed they were there.  I KNOW we were not nearly as pleasant on car rides as children.  In fact, between asking mom to plug in my phone to charge it, then hand it back to me to check a message, then please charge it again, over and over for 300 miles, it may be arguable that the children were slightly less irritating than me on the car ride.

We arrived after Pa had already gone to bed and after chatting with Grammy for a little while about the journey the rest of us hit the hay as well.  I set up alarm for 7:00am so that we could head to Aunt Sue’s for breakfast around 8 before driving the hour to Pittsburgh with my cousins Kelly and Eric.

Breakfast was great and I had like 6 pieces of bacon.  Because it’s turkey bacon and you can.  It’s like 60 calories for the whole package.  I just love this picture of Kelly and Eric because it set the tone for the whole weekend.  Just a ton of fun, ready for anything as long as we are laughing and having a great time (evidently except for miles 9-20 during Eric’s marathon–but we’ll get to that later).

The car ride to Pittsburgh was a blast. We made a couple pit stops for shorts for Eric and tape for Kelly’s knee.  I mentioned that my knees bother me when I run too, and Kelly quickly offered our cousin Stephanie’s knee-taping services, stating that it really helped her.  I took her up on it, thinking that if I could have 13.1 miles free of knee pain, I might have a shot at this whole thing being a success.

 

We were all excited about the Expo.  Eric had been talking it up and it was pretty awesome, but I think perhaps we were all just a little overwhelmed or tired or something because the energy level plummeted and after we got our shirts and bibs and Eric (the young, single professional of the group with the unlimited cash flow) bought some souvenirs, we decided to call it a day and meet up with Rich, Stephanie, and her boyfriend Eli at Rich’s hotel so we could go get something to eat.

Eric realizing it’s 26.2 miles NOT 2.62!

The Shirts

 

After Steph and Eli showed up, we stood around in the hotel lobby for several minutes trying to decide where to eat.  We ultimately decided on Smokey Bones but after sitting down wondered if we’d really made the best choice.  As Eric pointed out, “There are 30,000 runners in Pittsburgh tonight and we are the only ones eating here.”  But we all found something acceptable on the menu and over dinner conversation, Rich decided he’d like to join Stephanie, Eli, and Uncle Ron in cycling the marathon course and cheering on the runners.  Steph being the generous sweetheart that she is immediately called Uncle Ron and arranged to have him bring Rich a bike so he could join in on the cycling fun.  We went to Dick’s to buy a helmet for Steph (hers was missing) and Rich (he wasn’t expecting to be riding a bike this weekend) and I told the cousins that I was super impressed with how quickly Rich made a decision.  They joked that I’d be back later that night to make an exchange…which we were.  My 3rd trip to Dick’s in one day.  Fitting I suppose since they sponsored the race.


After dinner, Steph taped up Kelly’s knee and my knees and then everyone headed home to get a good nights sleep.  I laid out my outfit and got everything ready for the next morning.

   

Fast forward to 3:59am.  I wake up to the sound of a text message.  From Kelly, “You awake?!?!?!”  I realized I had slept amazingly well and hadn’t even heard the alert for the message from Amy at 3:44am asking if I was up yet.  I wrote Kelly back that I was up now and started getting ready.  They picked me up around 5:00 and we were on our way!

Though we planned out the night before where we were going to park, we abandoned the plan when we made a wrong turn and ended up at Heinz Field.  It was actually a pretty perfect change.  A bit of a hike for poor Kelly and Eric after those 26.2 miles, but not bad at all (for the rest of us).  And only $5!  Incredible!!  We ate some bananas.  I asked mom to throw my phone on the charger for those last few precious moments as I knew it was definitely not going to make it through the day, and we set to pinning our bibs on and then headed to the starting line.    

Because I forgot to turn the front facing camera off, I unintentionally got a nice shot of all the people that were still behind us.

 

Nervous starting line selfie

I can see the starting line!!

After a few group photos, Kelly and Eric left Amy and me for Corral B. We wished them luck and then headed for our Corral. We were in the last Corral and there were so many people in front of us, it took 37 minutes from the time the gun went off until we crossed the starting line. We entered the corral at around 6:30 so that means, we stood there in the freezing cold drizzle just waiting nervously for this thing to get started. But finally, finally, we were crossing that starting line. The energy was incredible. I noticed a huge picture of a young man’s face on a sign being held up by someone in the crowd. I pointed it out to Amy thinking it was just someone who wanted their runner to find them in the crowd. But later, I realized it was a picture of Kyle Johnson who died last year at mile 12 of the half. His mother ran the whole thing carrying a poster of him and his father ran the last mile…the one he didn’t complete. I didn’t realize all this at the time, but read a story about it after. It’s so touching that they embraced the race as a way to honor the memory of their son instead of letting it haunt them.

So the race.  I had planned on taking a ton of photos and documenting every step.  But as it turned out, it was actually kind of a blur.  I really had my heart set on running a sub 2, and since I didn’t exactly put in the training, I realized if I wanted any shot of it, I was going to have to focus on running and not my phone.  I decided to forgo the photos and just try to enjoy the moment.
And it was incredible.  I left my sister within the first mile which I felt kind of bad about, but I had my heart set on that sub 2 and knew I had to start bobbing and weaving if there was any hope of that.  Shortly after leaving Amy, I saw Uncle Ron, Stephanie and Eli on the opposite side of the street.  I screamed out “Steph!” but realized that I was too far away from them to be heard so I darted across the street (poor race etiquette), cutting people off, undoubtedly pissing people off and jumped in front of Steph and hugged her.  Even though it was only the first half mile or so, seeing them there was incredible and got me fired up to RUN.  I said “Ok, bye” and took off.  It wasn’t until a couple minutes later that I realized Rich wasn’t with them as was planned.  I was kind of concerned, but was sure everything was ok, and plans had just changed.  A few miles later, I heard my name and looked over to see them again (still no Rich).  Awesome to have fans in the crowd.

 
Though neither Amy norI took many pictures, I realized later that we took pictures of the exact same moments.  We were together in spirit ;)  I don’t remember many details of the race, but  will never forget how incredible the crowds were.  Just when I’d start dragging, I’d round a corner and suddenly there were thousands of people cheering you on, strangers yelling your name, giving out high fives, and telling you you’re awesome.  So amazing.
It was somewhere between mile 10 and 11, that I ran out of steam.  I could barely lift my feet and felt like I was barely moving.  But this just happened to be the part of the journey where we ran parallel  to the the full marathoners, separated by a concrete median as they headed over one bridge and we headed over another.  I just kept looking over there at all those people who still had 16 miles to go, pictured Kelly and Eric, and trudged on.

I was also waiting for this big mile 12 hill I kept hearing about.  I was told to save something for it and I had been remembering that the whole race.  I really didn’t want to have to walk up that hill.  Finally, when it came, it wasn’t so bad.  It was long, but not steep.  Still it was great to realize that once that hill was done, we were definitely in the home stretch.  As the course began to head downhill, I told myself, “This is it.  Time to give it your all.  This is what you’ve been waiting for.”  I knew my sub 2 was out of the question at this point, but I also realized if I really pushed it, I could make it under 2:10.  So I adjusted my goal and went.  I kind of wish I could have seen myself for that last mile, but kind of don’t.  In my mind, I was a gazelle.  Strong, powerful.  In reality, probably not so true.  But I felt awesome.

I crossed the finish line and couldn’t wait to get my hands on that medal.  I pushed my way through to get my finisher’s photo and then was just kind of carried along by the crowd through the snacks until I eventually found an empty spot and called mom to direct her to me.  Uncle Ron, Stephanie, Eli and Rich (he finally caught up with them) showed up shortly after.  Kelly and Eric called me to congratulate me on my finish.  They sounded great and said they were at mile 15.  I found out later this was a ruse and in actuality, Eric was, to quote Kelly, “the worst company ever” between miles 9-20.  It was definitely tough for them as they were both injured.  I’m so proud of them for finishing it and seeing them cross the finish line together with their arms in the air was probably the best moment of the entire weekend.

 
My official time was 2:07:56.  I’m pleased with that.  I pushed myself at the end to make it in under 2:10 and I’ve always told myself that as long as you are pushing yourself, it’s a win.  I can’t wait for my next half.