While pregnant with Luke, my sister Julee somehow convinced me that running a half marathon when Luke would be 4.5 months old was a good idea. The thought of being in shape enough just to finish was dreamy. After having Miles I don't think I started running again until he was closer to 5 months old. Your body moves/functions much differently after having children. But out of love for my sister and the challenge I was open to the idea. Around the end of June or so I got a call from my sister letting me know she signed me up for the half marathon. Oh crap!, is the thought that went through my head. At that point it was real in my mind that I had to get this body into shape if I was not going to finish before the sun went down. Immediately I started to get online trying to find a workout plan that I could stick to. Thankfully a couple weeks later my sister helped me get a "doable" work out plan that a mom of two could accomplish. I printed it out and stuck it on the fridge to remind myself daily of my goal and timeline. Each time I completed a workout I decided to highlight it to feel a sense of accomplishment to the end goal. Once I got into a routine (and my body wasn't severely out of shape) it felt great to get outside and run. All of a sudden it was October and race day was not very far away. I was going to leave my three "boys" at home and head down to Vancouver, WA with the girls. I love my family but I was really looking forward to a "night off" of momhood. Race day was here and everyone was as ready as they could be to start. The rain held off which was great. The whole time I was running I felt great. I kept feeling pumps of adrenalin flowing through my body just as I needed it. My playlist was keeping me moving too. I finished with plenty of room to meet my goal. But the real reason for writing all this is I wanted to say thank you.
Julee, thank you for so much!!!! Signing me up for the race, creating my workout plan, running with me, running with me and the boys, motivating me, etc. Because of all this I feel really great. It was perfect for my soul to get outside and run even if I didn't feel like it. It gave me more energy and got me back into shape way quicker than I ever imagined. I love you and am very thankful to have you as my sister.
Mark, thank you for pretty much having to "train" with me. If you didn't sacrifice the time I needed to run to watch the boys I would have never been able to meet my goals. Especially on Sunday when I had my long run and it was a race to get to church on time. Thank you for telling me to run even though I didn't feel like it some days.
Truly there were many people that made it possible for me to run and complete the race. Those below were in small or large ways a part of this accomplishment, I am truly grateful for you:
Julee, Mark, Mom, Pat, Paul, Anne, Grace, Miles, Luke, Nicole, Amanda, Shannon, Kristin
No comments:
Post a Comment