The title to a friend’s birthday bash this last weekend. AK (the friend) decided she wanted to celebrate a milestone by running a half-marathon and invited some friends to help her celebrate and run with her. As her husband, BK, so sweetly put it, “You all helped a little girl’s dream come true.” It was a fun and fabulous celebration!
The run started at 8 am about 1 hour from where we live. A couple of my running friends, Charlotte and Allison, joined me on a caravan down the freeway and through town. We left one car and the finish and picked up some more amazing women and headed off to the start. IT WAS SO COLD!!! Weather.com said it was supposed to be in the mid-40’s but it was frigid! I decided I would start the race in my pants and long sleeved shirt, hoping it would warm up as I ran.
I ran the entire half with Allison and it was great fun. We did warm up and when we made it to check-point 1, we both shed our long sleeved top and I decided to run in just my skirt. The picture is from that check-point.
We continued on our run and had a great time. The nice thing about this run was it was simply for fun. It was to celebrate a friend and something to enjoy. We are both running the Phoenix Half Marathon in a month, so this was a nice way to see kind of what we can do.
As we passed check-point 2, which also doubled as the finish line, I realized how far it was. I so wanted to stop and be done but we still had 6 miles left! We continued on our way and hit check-point 3, which was also the turn around. On our way back to the finish line we passed the birthday girl, AK and Charlotte running together. It was great to see them and cheer with their names! We saw all the runners the last few miles going in opposite directions but I didn’t know most of the names.
Finally Allison and I finished! We were done! Our time (according to our watches) was 2:56:51. The official time was 3:04:something. We stopped our time for the bathroom breaks and photo-op. I was pooped! I stretched and walked around but was SO TIRED!!! Not far from the finish line is the only road we had to cross on our run. After a little while I wandered up there to see if I could see those runners, mainly Charlotte and AK coming. Charlotte and I run together a lot of races together and I always go back and run her in.
I was looking and thought I saw them and I did. I was a bit confused because there were quite a few people with them. AK’s husband and a couple of her kids and friends kids were running the last little bit with them. When they made it to where I was I turned around and thought maybe I could run the last .1 mile with them to the finish. I tried but was pooped! They did amazing!
Then it was awards and party time! Provided courtesy of AK’s family and friends was a BBQ and we all brought sides. Someone provided a great cake and we all got to sing Happy Birthday, even though she didn’t want us to.
There were awards: medals for the 1st and 2nd place finishers, 2 for the “Almost Dead Last and Proud of It” and 2 for the “Dead Last and Proud of It.”
I want to say thanks to AK and all who organized this run for her. It was wonderful! We all got a “goodie bag” with our bib numbers and a few other things. The course was well planned out with 3 check-points. At each check-point there was water, gatorade, fruit snacks and jelly beans for us. The person manning each check-point had a list of all the runners to make sure everyone made it. It was just a wonderful experience and I’m glad I got to be part of such a great way to celebrate someone’s life. AK: YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
And thanks to my wonderful husband and boys, who let me do this run and all my other running. Couldn’t do this without your love and support too!
No comments:
Post a Comment