Four Races in Thirty Days, Running in the Cold, The Longest
I’ve Ever Run, The Post that Never Ends! or Birthday Girl!
Over the 30 days, I’ve run 4 races. With the cold and the dark it’s been
hard to get training or practice runs in.
My husband and I are running together. This makes me so happy. He’s been such a great sport. I keep saying, do you want to sign up for this or that race,
and he says sure! Having a running
partner is really helping both of us.
In November, we decided to do a spur of the moment
race. It was to benefit our son’s
high school. It was the Saturday
before Thanksgiving. This was their version of a Turkey Trot. It was close and inexpensive. We thought it would be a good practice
run for our Turkey Trot at YMCA on Thanksgiving. It was very unofficial. No chips. There
were probably only about 200 runners.
It was a hilly little course and cold. Notice a reoccurring theme – Cold, cold and more cold.
My husband and I ran most of it together. I’d get a little ahead
then he’d catch up and vice versa.
At the end we were heading towards the finish line and we started to get
faster then he smoked me. Boom. He was gone. I was like what happened? He said there was a guy in front
of him and he wanted to beat him. Yeah, he’s got the running bug! I drove my husband home and decided to go back for the
awards and door prizes. We only live
a mile away. My husband won a door
prize, $25 to Charm City Run.
Score! They let me take it home for him! Then he gave it to me.
The next race was the Turkey Trot for the Y. It was bitter cold on Thanksgiving
morn. My husband and I got up and
got to it! There were running
chips and lots of people. There
was ice on the road so we had to be careful. Also, lots of hills.
You don’t realize how many hills there are where you live until you
start running them. This course has
seemed to outgrown itself. There
were too many people for the space allowed. I was way ahead of my husband. It was hard to run together. It was so narrow.
I’m not sure when I lost him.
Then towards the end he was right there beside me. We finished together. It was so cold that we headed right for
the car. Then enjoyed a delicious
meal made by my mother-in-law.
Girls on the Run was my next adventure. This was with my daughter. Girls on the Run is a fabulous program
for girls between 3rd and 8th grade. It promotes healthy living and building
self-esteem. The cumulating
activity is to do a 5k. It’s a ½
of year journey. My daughter had
struggled a bit with the running.
I was so proud of her the day of 5k because she almost ran the whole
5k. She was such a trooper. And guess what? It was so cold! It was an honor to be my girl’s running
buddy!
The last race for 2013 was today. It was the Celtic Solstice 5 miler. Until today, I’d only run 5 miles three
other times, once in July, the day before I sprained my ankle and twice
recently. I was talked into this
because of the shirts. Everyone
loves it because of the shirts.
And I thought this would be our next challenge. It was touch and go whether we would be
able to go. They were calling for
bad weather and snow and mixed precipitation. In Maryland, you never know what you will get. I’m happy to say we didn’t get anything
in the morning. We went to the
race and only saw a few snowflakes.
And yes, it was cold! Just saying…it seemed like a really long 5
miles. The course was tight in the
beginning. I was tripped or pushed
or something and fell like .25 into it.
The guy said sorry and some lady helped me up and I keep going. I feel like I won just for that! My husband hadn’t run 5 miles so he was
pretty sure he’d need to walk some of it.
I saw the one-mile marker.
Yea! Keep going. There was a turn around with water. I assumed that was ½ but not sure. We headed to the lake. It just seemed so big. I was running beside a woman for a
couple yards or so. We hit the
4-mile marker together. We high
fived! I can do one more
mile! As I rounded the lake and
started down the hill, I could see the finish time to go! Another lady was beside me and said
Let’s go and we ran together hard to the finish. My Map My Run said I actually ran 5.20 miles. I told my husband later for an
individual sport, running certainly has a lot of camaraderie. My husband finished about 5 minutes
after me. I was so proud of him
for trying this. He, of course,
said he can’t wait to do it again next year.
Monday is my birthday.
How I have changed in the last year in running. Never did I think I’d pay money to run
5 miles or 3 miles in the cold and look forward to it. Nor did I think Dick’s Sporting Good
would be become on of my favorite stores.
I’m looking forward to my next year and running more races with my
husband. And yes, I am hoping for
some running gear for my birthday!!
My husband just looked over at me and said I’m totally in
for the ½ marathon thing!
