1/2 Marathon

Don't be fooled by the medal....all the finishers got one.  But the flower and the water bottle...well, those are my prize for getting 3rd in my age group for the 1/2 marathon!  I love the local 1/2 marathon.  It's a great race, so well organized, some great competition, and a beautiful course.  I love that my family comes to cheer me on along the way.  I couldn't do it without them.  I have always loved to get out for a run, but lately, running has taken on a new meaning for me.  With our super busy life that revolves around our kiddos, sometimes I don't get a lot of time to myself yet running provides me with that.  Gives me a little time to clear my mind and exercise all at the same time.  Plus, I have made a new group of friends who are also running moms and even though I never get to run with them because our schedules just don't match up, we encourage each other and compare notes and injuries.  They are all doing marathons and iron man type races so my couple of 1/2's and 10K's a year look like walks in the park to them but they are great, especially one of the girls who I just love to pieces and has become a good friend.  This time around, I set a PR for this particular course which felt awesome.  I ran my best and most things feel into place although I did have a slight cold which hindered my breathing and led to a side ache but I felt like I paced myself through the race better than I had before and when I finished, I didn't have much left to give.  I hope that if my running can benefit my family in a couple of ways, it would be to help keep me healthy so I a can stay active with them all, that it can show my kids it's important to take a little time for yourself sometimes, and that they see that the effort and consistency I do put into running helped me accomplish a goal (ok, so honestly, I do not really have an awesome running goal except to cross the finish line....but hey, I did that so goal accomplished!)