I look at these photos…

..and I get that hankering again. It must be like childbirth. It takes a few months for the painful memories to fade and you get that sick desire to go through it all again.

My friend Lola tutored me in my newest hobby of running. She was my most athletic friend, I liked being with her, so I invited myself along on one of her runs and then continued to barge my way into her athletic excursions. Over the last 4 years I have run in several races, many of them half marathons. I started out quite slow and each race has gotten a hair faster. Now that I have checked the marathon box, my next goal is to complete a half marathon in under 2 hours.

This is the race where I hope that goal will be achieved.

Now I just have to get faster.

After 5 months of training, yesterday I completed the LA Marathon, something I have wanted to do for the last several years. I went through a training program with my friend Holly. We met 3-4 times each week and worked very hard to get ready for the big day. Sunday began with getting to Dodger Stadium at 6am, waiting with our pace group, and then lining up in the mass of people at the start line. It was exciting to see how many people were there, and they were all so different. Some old, some really young, some dressed up, such a range of people all there to accomplish the same goal. Once the race started it took about 15 minutes to actually cross the start line, and even then it was a challenge to get through the mass of people that were ahead of us.

While I was running the girls were at home getting ready to come to the finish line. What I didn’t know was that they were trying to meet me along the route as well.

I felt reasonably good until mile 15. That is when I started to doubt if I would be able to finish well. My whole body hurt, my brain told me that I should stop..who’s dumb idea was this? Holly was so encouraging, and so loyal. She didn’t run ahead. She walked when I needed to, reminded me to eat, gave me small goals to work toward. At mile 18 I knew that I was slowing her down and holding her back from what she could do. So I encouraged her to go ahead. She didn’t want to go, but I knew that she would be better off to go without me so she could finish strong. Reluctantly she left. It was like she was moving away with as hard as it was to see her leave. Who cries during a race…me. Not too long later I saw my kids and that lifted my spirits.

Not long after that my friends from church showed up to run the rest of the race with Holly and I. They couldn’t have shown up at a better time. Holly was a mess because she left me, I was just a mess. So they did their best to put us back together and press on toward the end. 8 miles is a long way to run with someone who doesn’t really want to run. So I owe V a huge something. She was my lifeline. Just her being there somehow got me to run when I really didn’t want to.

The last 2 miles were tough, but the adrenaline started when I could hear the finish line noises. It was so wonderful to see the finish line in the distance. I wanted to run faster so it could be over faster. My goal was to finish in under 5 hours and I crossed the finish line at 4:56:47. I got to see my family and eat my hoagie. It was a wonderful feeling.

Holly finished in 4:48:26. Well done friend!

Fun facts:
- out of 25,000 runners, i finished in 8,420 place
- i was ahead of 54% of the male finishers
- in the last 4.5 miles i passed 492 runners
- i was at mile 10 when the winner won

Yesterday my friend and I ran the Surf City Half Marathon. We were so lucky to miss the rain. It was a beautiful day. We started out with lofty goals, which after the first 3 miles I realized I would never make the 2 hour goal. I did hope to finish faster than my previous race, and I did it! I was able to cut 4 minutes from my time. So I am proud. We did well.

Last Sunday was the race for World Vision. My running buddy and I got up super early and made our way down to Venice. We made a tentative goal to try to finish the race in 2 hours 15 minutes. We both thought that was not a very realistic goal, but we thought we would give it a try. At 7:13am we were off. The course was very straight forward, a simple out and back. It really wasn’t very scenic…running down Venice Blvd. to the 10 freeway, turn around and come back. We started out entirely too fast, which tends to happen with race day adrenaline and all, but by mile 6 we were both feeling like the race should be over. My running friend, who is the ever present cheerleader, encouraged us along the remaining 7 miles. We finished strong, at only one minute over our goal time.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to World Vision for the race. I am so grateful that I was able to do something fun as well as support a very worthy cause. Many children and families in Africa will now have clean water thanks to your support.

In order to get off my tush and get something going I have registered for the 13.1 Los Angeles Half Marathon, benefiting World Vision. So, it begins again. The waking up early to run, the long run on Saturday. Did I really just pay good money to do this again!?

Anyone want to run with me? I know you want to.

May 9, 6am – Wake up and get everyone ready for the Revlon Run.

7:15am – Out the door, on our way for a morning of running and fun time!

8:45am – Let the race begin.  There are lots of people, but that makes the energy really fun.  The girls are super excited.  The gun sounds, the confetti flies!  Here we go!

8:49am – Agressive running man doesn’t watch where he is going and completely bowls over LittleZabba, sending her smashing face first into the street, which causes her two front teeth to chip, become incredibly loose, and bleed for the next hour.  (he didn’t even stop long enough to properly apologize.)

8:50am – 10:00am – Carry LittleZabba the 3 miles since she is so scared that someone else is going to run into her.  Talk with the first aid volunteers and an EMS worker to see if we should go to the dentist.

10:05am – Cross the finish line and receive our medals.  Yeah!

10:30am – Get in the car to head to our friend’s house for a birthday party.

11:15am – Finally exit the parking lot.

1:00pm – Arrive at the party.

1:00pm – 3:30pm – Food, playtime, see some baby crows, chase some chickens, cake, ice cream, pinata & candy!

3:42pm – Feed the turtles, BigZabba attempts to keep the dog from eating the turtle food & Snap!  BigZabba gets bit in the face by said dog.

3:43pm – 4:00pm – Clean up the wound, comfort the crying child, call the Doctor to see if stiches and/or antibiotics are needed, they are not.

4:02pm – 5:00pm – Playing continues as if nothing happened.  Mom and Dad try to recover from the adrenaline rush.

5:15pm – Pile in the car to head home.

7:20pm – Finally home after enduring the 405.

May 10, 6:30am – Kids are awake. LittleZabba’s teeth are sore, but not as loose as yesterday.  BigZabba has a pretty purple & slightly swollen face, but it is not as bad as we anticipated. Everyone is on the mend!

May 9, 2009 our family will be participating in the Revlon Run for Women.  We would love to be able to raise $500 to help the fight against women’s cancers.  Would you be willing to help us reach our goal?

If you would like to donate you can do so here.

If you have a family member or friend that you would like us to run in memory of or honor of, let me know their name and we will run with their name on our shirts as a tribute to them.

We run in honor of ShaSha, my Mother, who fought the fight against breast cancer and won.  I know there are many others who are still fighting and we want to do our part to help them.

68 miles down.  93.1 to go.