The Patriot Half Marathon

Right after I gave birth to Ruby, I signed up for a local half marathon.  Knowing that I wanted to start training again, signing up forced me to stick with it regardless of how little sleep I was getting the night before our early morning training runs.  Thankfully, Ruby was a great sleeper most nights and let me rest so I would have the energy to train.  I started out not really having a goal in mind, just wanting to get back out there with my great running buddies and to finish.  A few weeks before the race I decided I needed to set a goal time to finish.  After looking at some of our training runs and trying to calculate in the heat and humidity I decided on 2:10, an attainable goal, not a PR, but something to strive for five months postpartum.  

I started out slow, knowing that if I pushed too hard in the beginning the heat and hills would get me mid way through.  My friends, Lisa and Ashley were running the relay and started the race with me.  I was so grateful for their company for the first part of the race.  The remainder of the race I ran alone, thinking that I had a good pace and would likely reach my goal.  At the turnaround point, I passed Ashley and she encouraged me to run to catch the 2:00 pace group.  I thought at the time that would be impossible, but pushed a little harder.  Shortly after, I passed Kris and Brock with all the kids and that gave me another push.  At around mile nine I caught up to the 2:00 pacer and finally felt like I could relax a little.  The rest of the race I tried to maintain, but around mile 11, I felt like I had nothing left.  At that point, I saw Ashley waiting on me around mile 12 and she ran with me until another friend pushed me to the end.  I was so thankful for them at that moment, I can't describe how much their encouragement helped me in those last few yards!  I finished the race with a PR, and time of 1:57, something I did not think was possible!  Running a local race was such a treat because all along the route there were familiar faces with encouraging words and cheers!  

 Pre-Race Photo with some of my training partners!

 Post Race with my biggest fans!  John Thomas kept saying, "Mommy, you run faster!?"

SO grateful for this lady and her friendship, after all, it was her who got me into this crazy thing called running!