Stroll Down Memory Lane

If you aren't tired of hearing about my upcoming half marathon, you might be by the end of this week!!  But this is a slightly different take as we stroll down memory lane.  My first ever half was completed pre-blog (was there such a time?) but I dug out the email I sent out afterwards.  Looking at it, I realize how things have changed and how things have stayed the same.  I still love cheers and my goal is still to finish.  And yet, I have come so far from where I was then.  Not only was this pre-blog but it was pre-running and pre-swimbikerunning.  It was at the very beginning of my "racing" career.  Shall we go back even further?  Back to the very beginning?  (It's a very good place to start or so Maria von Trapp tells me!)  Okay, maybe not quite back to the very beginning, but close.  I had never been athletic.  I would much prefer to sit and read.  Fast forward - just out of college I had gotten a job in Houston, TX.  I moved and started my job where I suddenly found myself working a lot.  But my employers provided food if you were working late.  How cool is that?  Yeah, not so much.  Sitting and eating lots of take out food does not make for a happy or healthy body.   It took me a while but finally I realized I needed to make a change.  Enter walking.  A friend and I started walking 5Ks and 10Ks in Houston.  And then I moved back up to Seattle, my activities stalled and I found myself working a lot.  Sound familiar?  A (now) former co-worker had injured herself running a marathon and started walking as part of her recovery and convinced me to tag along.  Wanting to get myself out of the rut I had once again fallen into, I went along for the ride.  We started walking after work and on Saturdays (rain or shine).  Pretty soon she was telling me I was going to finish a half marathon.  "Who me?" I would scoff.  No way!!  But she had the last laugh as we shall read with my very first race report!!

First Half Marathon Race Report (Super Jock n' Jill - Sept 2005)
I completed my first (and possibly last if my sore legs have anything to say about it!) half-marathon on Monday! I had two goals going into it - one was to finish in 4 hours and one was not to be last, but really the overall goal was just to finish, whether in last place or not. I am very happy to say I finished in 3 hours and 53 minutes and there were a few people behind me!

The last 2.1 miles were extremely hard, probably the hardest I've ever done, especially as the sun came out and it got hot. But the volunteers were great - offering encouragement at every mile marker and a few of the runners even shouted encouragement as they ran past us.

Enjoy the photo of us "racing" to the finish line!