13.1 - Check!

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I never planned to do this in my life ~ run 13.1 miles ~ what was I thinking??  My sweet hubby has run them before and while I admired him, I always thought he was crazy.  And here I was,  signing up for one myself.  What??!!??

It happened by accident ~ I started the Couch 2 5K running plan last January as a way to lose weight and get healthy.  I completed the 9 week plan and went from "huffin' & puffin'" though a run to being able to run a full 30 mins without dying.  I never ran that 5K race though.

But I did keep running.  I ran with friends in the neighborhood last Spring - many of us had babies in joggers, so it was a great social time too.  That totally made it fun and easy to do.

Summer hit ~ living here in Texas, you gotta go early to withstand the heat ~ so my neighbor, Mel, and I would run in the mornings before our hubbies went to work.  Slowly we started to increase our distance...and we'd slowly have to get up earlier to accommodate how far we wanted to run.  In June, Mel had signed up to run the San Antonio Half Marathon.  I was proud of her, but that was not on my bucket list.

School started and we fell into a great pattern of running right after the kids got on the bus - the baby loved his morning runs with us.  Nothing like pushing an extra 35 lbs to get your heart pumping.  I had told Mel that I would train with her for her run, so our miles started to creep up...6...7....8.... At this point, it would have been silly to not have run along with her in San Antonio.  So I did.  Mid October, I signed up to run it with her after we ran a 11 mile run and I knew I could do it.

We did it!!!  This past weekend, I accomplished a 13.1 mile run!!  And it was fantastic.  I enjoyed it so so so so much more than I ever thought I would!

I took along my iPhone to document the journey (even though I got several laughs when I would take it out to snap pictures along the way!!).  There was no way I was going to run that far and NOT have pictures to show for it!!

 Getting my packet & race bib

 4 runners - which one it not like the other??

The crazy man (Mel's hubby) on the left running the full!

(he did it in 4 hours - he rocked!!)

 Ready to run - leaving the hotel at 6:30 am

 I noticed right before the race started that my race # had my favorite number in it

 ~ 18 ~ 

no, I  didn't request it.

 20 Corrals ahead of us to start - 45 mins after the race started, we started.

 Almost to the starting line - did I mention there were over 26,000 runners???

Running by the Alamo at mile 3.  

I came here so much as a child, never thought I'd ever be running by it in a race!

 Around mile 7- at this point we hadn't even stopped to walk

we kept going.....

 Our last mile!! We ran it out and finished 5 mins early!!

 Proud Mommas!!!  We did it!!

 This was Matt's 3rd half-marathon to run!

So proud of him!  It was so special to have done this together.

There it is - in black & white!  Our goal was 2 1/2 hours and we beat our time.

I never was a runner.  I always wanted to be.  During the race, the shouts from the sidelines "Good job runners!"  and "Keep going Athletes!" and "Almost there!"  were so encouraging, they would bring tears to my eyes.  I had never been called an athlete.  But now I am one.  I didn't have to go to the Olympics to be an athlete, I just ran my neighborhood.

It never ceases to amaze me how God places events in our lives to challenge us, make us better.  This one was unique...I never saw it coming.  But he did.  And I ran though it, hands held high!  

Thanks for all your love & encouragement on here and on Face Book!!  It really means a lot to have so many thinking of you!

So, when's the next race?