PF Changs Half Marathon

Sunday, January 16th was a great day for a race. It started out a bit chilly but ended up being perfect running weather. Gotta love AZ for that. Bryan, the girls and Nana and Papa fought the crowds to come cheer me on. This was about mile 12.9, I was so very happy to see them. I was also happy that the finish line was around the corner. I leaned over the fence, gave the girls quick kisses and was off.

The girls

Emma's sign said "Go Mom and Jen, go everyone."

Caitlyn's said "Have a super, fun, crazy time." (If we could have read it)

It was so great to train with my friend Jen. She was always ready to roll even if it was dark, freezing cold and 6am. I called our runs together "mama therapy" since we chit chat the whole time. Jen rocked with a time of 2 hrs and 5 minutes.

I finished in 2 hrs, 16 minutes and 22 seconds. That is about 12.5 minutes faster than the women's half (2 hrs, 28 minutes and 58 seconds). I was just so thankful that my foot felt fine. I was happy that I could run the whole time vs taking a few walk breaks because of pain like last time.

Jen and I found these adorable head bands at the expo and went a little crazy. There were fun ones with sayings- a few that I liked were

"I will run for wine"

"Cheaper than therapy"

"Love chocolate, gotta run"

I love running, I hate running, I love running"

I decided on a few cute ones and one that said

"Run now, wine later"

Too funny

Of all things, I had jammed my ring toe (not sure what else to call it) in our heavy garage door a few days before the run so it was sore to say the least. My toe nail was bent back and now it is black. It was annoying for the first five miles or so (until it turned into a dull, numb pain). I decided to offer that pain and annoyance to God for both my girls in hopes that any pain or difficulties they may encounter in the future would be taken into the hands of God. I also prayed for as many family members and friends that I could. I guess for me running is a lot of reflection and time in your own head so you have to use it wisely. :)

All in all, it was a fabulous experience.

I had originally signed up for the full marathon and had sincere intentions of running it. As life turned out, I just did not have it in me. My hurt foot was part of it and lack of time was the other. Maybe one day. I have the itch somewhere inside, it must be a bit deeper than I first thought. When the time is right, it will happen. Until then, I will keep putting one foot in front of the other.

PS- thanks to my super hubby for taking on morning duty while I trained with Jen