10K

Two o'clock in the afternoon plus the hot sun plus temperatures in the upper 80's plus not much breeze combined with thousands of people equals one interesting race day. I do send a big shout out to all the people who made the race possible. It was a great experience. When we passed the starting line the only thing i could hear was the pounding of feet on the pavement. There were so many people running that it actually sounded like rain. I have never been more thankful for lukewarm water than I was yesterday. Seeing a water station in the distance was like coming upon an oasis in the desert. Also, running yesterday gave a whole new meaning to running through sprinklers. I never really enjoyed running through sprinklers as a child, but yesterday I ran through everyone I could just to cool off. At mile 3 there was a band playing "Sweet Home Alabama" (a favorite song of mine) and that made running uphill way more fun. Around mile 4, I began questioning my sanity and what could have possessed me to run. I'm so glad I did it though! On the last stretch there was a little girl high-fiving people as they ran past and telling them great job. She was such a cutie! There are only 3 more weeks until the Half Marathon! Everyone that ran with us....there were 5 of us in all....did a great job. I'm so glad that Hiland Dairy was a sponsor of the race because there was an endless supply of chocolate milk at the end and I did partake!

Twinkle Toes

On Wednesday night running buddy 1 and I were headed out the door to run and her 3 year old decided she wanted to run with us. It was one of the cutest things I have seen in a while. We started running and noticed flashing lights. We looked down to find she had on her twinkle toe shoes. Some of you may not know what these are. They are tennis shoes that have sparkles on the toe and when you walk they light up. Well, twinkle toes made it almost a whole lap. Her mom had to piggy-back her up the hill. She did a great job! I'm looking forward to our next run with her. It may be a while though, I don't think it was as much fun as she thought it was going to be.
Running buddy 1 and I made it three miles this morning and we are looking forward to 8 miles tomorrow! One week left until the 10K.

104 miles

We have been running since January 13th. and have ran a total of 104 miles. It is so awesome to look back and see how far we have come (literally and figuratively). This past Saturday we ran 7 miles. Let me just say it was a hard, but beautiful run. It was hard because 7 miles is a long ways no matter how you cut it and beautiful because we ran in the park. I can't think of anything creative or funny about our run on Saturday, but we did see a dead snake and that was pretty exciting! We are looking forward to our next run coming up here in a couple weeks (10K).

5K All the Way

Awesome, Breathtaking, Cool, Daunting, Energizing, Fascinating, Goal Achieving, Hard, Inspiring...all of these are words that describe the race today. It was an experience unlike anything thing I have ever done before. So many people were there cheering us on as we ran and it made me think about heaven. The Bible tells us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and I believe they are cheering us on as we run through the race of life. Today as we were running up the last hill there was a lady standing at the top screaming and cheering us on saying, "This is your last hill, finish strong." Just as I got over the hill I could see the finish line and even though I was so tired and wanted desperately to walk I kept running. As the runners came to the stadium for their last quarter mile there were people everywhere cheering and yelling  for us. I noticed that even though I didn't know any of them I still wanted to run fast and harder. There was nothing quite as sweet as crossing the finish line knowing I had run as fast and hard as I possibly could. My team mates did awesome too. I am so proud of them and all the hard work they have done. I couldn't ask for better running mates. I finished the race in 31.5 minutes. Given the wind and hills, I feel that is a pretty good time. However, there is always room for improvement.

Let the Countdown Begin

One hour and fifteen minutes, that is how long it took us to run 6 miles! It was a beautiful night for a run. We made it until lap 17 before it started to rain. It was actually more like a light sprinkle. It is officially less than a week before our first run, let the countdown begin! We are so excited. I am so thankful for my running buddy and the bond we have made. Its amazing to see how a friendship is strengthened through things like this. It reminds me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 4 that says, "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." Neither one of us has fallen down yet, but there is a big hole in the road where we run and one of us yells "hole" when we run past it that way we don't trip in it. I'm so blessed to run with my team mates, they are amazing!

So Excited

Well, only two weeks till our first race and I am so excited and a little nervous. Last week we logged 14 miles all together. The longer I do this the more I love it. We have all figured out that if we can make it through the first two miles then we can make it through the race. It seems like that's about how long it takes our bodies to get used to running. This morning was going to be a four mile run, but it was extremely windy and it was raining. We postponed it until tomorrow. I think that will work out in our best interest because I am getting a cold and I don't think running in the rain would be good for that.
I would like to thank all of you who take the time to read every time I post. It is such a good motivation to know that people out there are interested in my team's running. It is good to have your support and we appreciate you all.

We Still Have It!

So, let me start by saying that I hate bugs. I don't like them in any way, shape, or form. I'm sad to say that after our 5 mile run on Sunday I found a tick on my shoulder. It grossed me out so bad. My poor mother had to do minor surgery to get it off all while I was freaking out! I just don't handle bugs well. Okay, moving on from the bugs, last night we were running 3.5 miles. We were about half way done when a truck pulls up beside us and we hear, "hey, who are y'all running from?" We all looked to find it was 3 high school boys. It was like after 10 on a school night and I think the three of us were thinking, "isn't it past you guys bedtime?" Buddy number 2 said sarcastically, "from you!" That was followed by a string of complements from the boys and then they drove loudly off into the moonlight. They had pipes on their truck I think, but one of the buddies said trucks can have the same sound if there is a hole in the muffler! I said to my friends, "I wonder if they could tell we are all over the age of 25." Buddy number one said, "well, at least we know we still have it!" We all laughrd so hard. The rest of our run was pretty uneventful and we made good time! It was a success.