On a whim

I have always thought in the back of my mind that it would be great to run a marathon, but for the last few years figured that it was one of those wishful thinking dreams. I wasn't regular enough in my running or exercise to do anything near that! This past April I decided to get my act into gear. Following the example of my father (who is vigilant in his exercise routine), I get up stinking early in the morning and run before Genevieve wakes up, in order to avoid a melt down of me leaving her. Although I only get in about a 30 minute run each day before Dave leaves for work, that half an hour is a great release for me and changes my entire day.

At the end of July, a friend mentioned to me a half marathon that was being held in the neighboring town mid-August. That started to get me thinking, but I still wasn't sure; I was scheduled to be out of town that weekend. Well, my plans changed a bit, and the evening before the race I decided to do it. Dave says people don't wake up one morning and suddenly decide to run a marathon, but with my half, it was pretty close to that! Keep in mind that I only run about half an hour a day, I had been out of town helping my sister with her new baby and only ran once the week of the race (for 27 minutes with the jogging stroller; it was all the patience I could get out of Genevieve), and the last race I had run was a 10k back in 2002. It had been a while! Oh well, there's no time like the present!

My time is nothing to brag about, 2 hours and 14 minutes. Yet, I did it! With a lack of long runs and training, I don't think that's too bad. I had hoped for better, but perhaps next time with some training I'll be closer to two hours. The weather was far from ideal the day of the race, and I wondered a few times to myself, "What in the world am I doing out here?!" I ran in freezing rain, slush, thunder and lightning (within a second of each other!) for the first third of the race. The next two thirds of the race the skies cleared up, but I was soaked through. I am still getting over the cold I caught. Oh well! I still had fun and would do it again! - Dave and Genevieve drove up to see me at the finish line. I was really glad they did; it meant a lot to me. Here are the photos Dave took. No one ever looks great at the end of a race, but I don't care. I'll let you know when I try it, again!