Another Marathon

Bethany and I have run 5 half marathons together.  She's a great running partner.  She was signed up to run with me two years ago for the Shamrock Marathon but got bronchitis and pneumonia right before the marathon so she couldn't run with me. You can defer your spot for two years.  So this was the year to do it.   

I debated about running this year but Brent and the kids said to go for it so I trained all winter.  It meant very early Saturday morning runs  And it was really nice to always come back to a clean house after a long run. Brent and the kids cleaned while I ran.  It was a nice trade off!

The kids sent me this video during a training run.

 Bethany and I met in Richmond for our 20 mile training run.   It was the weekend before Joel's surgery and I think for my anxiety just what I needed.  Everyone needs a friend who encourages you, challenges you, and draws you closer to God.  It was just what I needed that weekend.  Sarah was in Japan so she left me her key and we stayed at her apartment.  We met another friend Molly for dinner Friday night and then on Saturday went for our run down Richmond's Capital Trail. It was a beautiful day and the trial was really pretty to run on....however it was 80 degrees and we had a hard time finding water to fill up our water bottles.  Richmond - you need water stops along the trail!  Bethany joked that she'd rather run in snow.

Well..... maybe we should've have joked about the snow because it actually happened!  Snow, sleet, torrential downpour, and worse was the gale force winds! 

Bethany and Kristofer came down Friday night and stayed all weekend.  We spent Saturday night looking up how to survive a marathon in the rain. We wore large garbage bags for the first 16 miles! They worked great but then they were slowing us down since we were running right into the wind and it ended up pushing us backwards because it made its own parachute.  So we had to take them off. 

Miles 8-11 were the worst.  Heavy sleet and the gale force winds along the boardwalk kept pelting us and it really hurt. We had to stop to walk a lot because we had to brace ourselves against the wind.  But in some ways it helped the miles go by fast.  We were so focusing on getting through it that we didn't think about the miles. 

We had our own cheering section around mile 19.  

Those hugs were the best! 

Colin ran me across the finish line again.  He said he will always run me in.

I told Bethany I was so glad she didn't want to  give up.  A lot of people were dropping out and a lot got carted off in ambulances.  But after all the training I'm glad we did it. 

The birthday girl got her huge medal! 

The kids made signs. I loved them!

Not the best beach day but a fun experience. We came home and right as we were pulling into the driveway the sun came out. Go figure.  Ma-ma-maa and Grandpa came over for dinner to celebrate Norah's birthday with cake and presents.  Bethany and Kristofer left Monday morning and Norah wants them to come back next year for her birthday weekend.   Despite the weather it was such a great weekend.