Vida. Risa. Amor.

I had a really good race day today. There is nothing like the feeling of the satisfaction you get from meeting a goal you set for yourself. I knew after Halloween trying to pull off another 26.2 miles and trying to find time to train was going to be close to impossible during the holidays, so I set out for doing 13.1 instead. I'll admit I had a few dull training days here and there, and many of my runs longer than 6 miles a little boredom started to set in, but in the end it was all worth the effort. "The pain is temporary, the pride is forever"...in other words, I basically kept telling myself to suck it up, my acheing toes could rest tommorrow! It would have been great to have had a buddy to run with as I did in the Chicago Marathon in 08 with my good friend Nicole, (who has known me since age 10)....but the farther along I got into the training I knew I had to see if I could do this for myself. Thirteen is a special number for me this year as it's the same amount of years I've been a mother and have been married. If someone would have asked me 13 years ago how I would imagine myself to be like today, I don't think I would have guessed I'd be attempting half or even full marathons! I saved a few thoughts to think of each mile...mile 1: my first year of everything, becoming a Mom, getting married, starting a home. Mile 3: I thought of when Lanie was born and the fun it was to dress up my two girls. Mile 7: Aydan and the new joy of having a baby boy. Mile 9 during the race was very difficult! It was mostly up a huge hill and I thought of when we welcomed Rylan to the family....(wonder if the hill was significant there). I didn't forget the requested boxing moves and booty shakes for miles 9 through 13, although my booty can basically shake all on it's own these days. I was too chicken to bust out a kung-fu panda move, but I did consider it after a marine man was shouting "COME ON!" at everyone or himself...still not sure...but it worked since I pushed myself to finish strong. My 2 hour 17 minute finish time was a better time than the goal I set for myself...in fact it was exactly 13 minutes less! It was such a relief to find my family at the finish line among the thousands of people and to have them all support me in that moment. I haven't thought about what the next goal or challenge for running will be for me, but I'm thinking to keep it under 13 miles for a while. I still have all my toenails this time, and they sure need a break from kicking assphault!