My Daughter Ran a Half Marathon

13.2 miles....really could have been 100.  I could never run that, well, I should say I would never try to run that.

My daughter ran a half marathon yesterday!  Can you just say WOW!  I am so impressed.  She has been training for several months...probably not as much or often as she should or would like to have.  The fact she is a wife and stay home mother to an 17 month old makes a huge difference in the kind of time she has.  She blogged about it the other day and here is what she said.  

I don't think I realized when I set out to run a half marathon that it would be such a change for our entire family unit. It wasn't just about me getting out and logging the miles. Baby Gray would go from spending about an hour a week in the jogger to spending about an hour a day strapped in tight. He would have to eat breakfast in our bedroom while I shower and get dressed after a run (see photo, but excuse Mr. Gray's closet). Mr. Gray and I would miss family time many evenings so I could hit the pavement when it was too cold or wet to have Baby Gray out before Mr. Gray got home. Saturday mornings would no longer family be PJ time; I get up at daylight to get back and do family breakfast after my long runs. My running quit being part of the fringe benefits and took center stage over the past six weeks. 

It's been an interesting transformation. I like that my day now focuses on when I will get a run in. I'm not quite sure how I feel about the fact that the first words out of my son's mouth each morning are waffle and stroller. He knows. I get him up, we get a clean diaper, and grab him a waffle for the road--PJs and all! Granted, he doesn't dislike this routine, I'm just not sure I love that he eats breakfast in his stroller each morning.

After Sunday, our focus can move to a more balanced approach. Running will continue, but not with such urgency. Once the six-week mark approached, I got pretty nervous about being ready. I am ready, though. I'm still slow, but I've got endurance. I can finish. I can even finish before they start packing everything up--I'm not that slow! 13.1, here I come!

Her time was 2 hr 32 min., much more like 11 min something per mile.  Fabulous.  I am so impressed.  When she finished she had a smile on her face.  She looked amazing and very happy.  One of her lifelong friends, whose idea it was to run it in the first place and has run several, flaked out on her yesterday.  She didn't run.  I told her it reminded me of the first and ONLY 10K I ever ran when I was about exactly her age.  It was initiated by this very friend's mother.  I trained for who knows how long...that mom was already a runner.  At the last minute, literally too, the day before she flaked, complaining of blisters.  I ran it by myself.  I ran it.  I finished it.  I ran across the finish line with my arms raised as if I were the winner..first place.  I could not have been more proud.  I told my daughter this story and suggested she share it w/ her friend.  My daughter just called and updated me on the divine intervention that occurred while she was running.  Finding someone to run with, pace her, talk to, share her faith with...that was just amazing, a miracle really.  I'm sure she'll blog it and I'll include it here later.  Anyway, she's my hero.  She's an amazing woman, wife, mother, and I adore her with all my heart.  I so wish I could have been there for her at the finish line.  I would have been smiling through my tears.  

Encourage One Another

Robin