13.1

That’s the distance from uptown Charlotte, to South Park, through Myers Park & Dilworth, and back to uptown.

If you had told me, even 6 months ago, I would ever run.  I would have called you crazy.

Let alone that kind of distance.

But I did it… 13.1 miles.  A half marathon.  And no, I didn’t die, though at a couple of points during the actual race I thought I would.

I was supposed to start training in Quito.  But really, at that altitude, um, no.

I could barely breathe.

we cursed and swore that this was the worst idea ever.  My friend Cristin documented it all in this article.. of how a bunch of semi-in-shape-and-not-at-all-in-shape women one night on a dare decided running a half marathon would be a good idea.  It was May… we’d had a couple of cocktails… the race was in November… we could totally do this… right?

Then, suddenly, the weekend runs became longer.  A LOT longer.  And the date got closer.  A LOT closer.

my early-morning-pre-race-picture.  lululemon leggings, my jellybeans, gum, and yes, a large bottle of ibuprofen (no, I didn’t actually bring it with me).

a very blurry picture of the ‘electric lemonade’ girls… cristin, jenny, leigh, lindsay, kristi & amy.  those smiles were gone about 20 minutes after this picture was taken.

We did a great job… running at our own paces and in my case, dragging (literally at times) Kristi along with me because I refused to leave her behind (until the last mile when she said she was walking and I was like ‘girlfriend, I’ll see you at the finish line’).  We all finished and averaged anywhere between 10:30 and 13 minute miles (my best was early on…a 9:45 mile… apparently I was on crack at the time.. but I averaged out at about 11:40 a mile).

My girlfriend Anne said it best… something to the effect of, as moms… in particular stay-at-home moms, we need these kinds of challenges.  And it’s true.  Pushing myself to do this was scary but awesome and I ‘m so proud of my girls who overcame injuries, pregnancy, health issues, and general laziness to rock out this race. 

post race +1… cristin’s husband.

And yes, we’re already making plans to do it again.