Rock N Roll

November 16th is the date for the San Antonio Rock 'n Roll marathon and 1/2 marathon and Nathan and I just signed up to run the half. This will be his first race bigger than a 5K. I ran the Houston 1/2 last January all because Jo asked me to run it with her and then she bailed! Joy agreed to train with me and she and Icommitted and accomplished our goal which was to finish it without keeling over and dying. We actually did pretty good for two girls that did the least amount of training possible. The most we ever ran before the race day was 10 miles. Or so we thought. We ran in my neighborhood and would do our long runs at McAllister Park. We thought we tracked the course out correctly but we were about a mile and three quarters too short. Oh well, we finished it in decent time and received our finisher Tshirts and medals. The Houston race was awesome and it will be hard to beat. From what I understand, the city of Houston is one of the best places to run a marathon. The crowd is amazing! In fact, I saved my list of memorable moments of my 1/2 marathon while in H-town...

Memorable moments of the Houston half Marathon

1. Seeing Nathan at the starting line and finish line
2. Getting to the top of the bridge and seeing the half runners joined with the full runners. Seeing all those runners in front of me and behind me was overwhelming!
3. Four high school aged gals standing at a bus stop doing a cheer for all the runners passing by! They were so cute, they made me laugh!
4. The guys standing in front of their house dressed as old ladies with fuzzy robes, fuzzy slippers, cold cream and pink sponge rollers cheering us on.
5. Family standing outside their home drinking mimosas out of champagne glasses. I remember thinking, “Mmmm, that sure looks good!”
6. Running behind a mom with a shirt that had a picture of her 2 kids and the shirt said, “If you can read this, you’re running behind my mommy!”
7. Around mile 8 or 9, a group of spectators holding signs that said, “We love you ALL! To us, you’re all Kenyans!”
8. Around mile 10 spectators offering cups of beer. It was temping but I passed.
9. A guy at mile 2 holding a sign that said, “I’m hung-over and YOU’RE running the marathon”.
10. Having dinner on Saturday night with the Kari and her parents, David and Cathy and Joy.
11. At mile 12 there was a police officer that was on duty at his post and he was clapping and cheering for all the runners.
12. Seeing all the dogs with their families reminded me of Zeta.
13. At mile 6, Bon Jovi came on my iPod with “Oh, we’re half way there! Oh, Living on Prayer!”
14. Giving high fives to several spectators who were homeless. Their spirits were high and despite their dark appearance they had bright smiles.
15. At mile 12 in downtown Houston one of my favorite songs from Women of Faith conference came on my iPod and I just ran with my hands in the air and I was praising God for giving me the strength to RUN.
16. Right before I crossed the finish line a gal sprinted past me and I looked down and saw she had a prosthetic leg and I was so inspired by her! What a champ!
17. As I crossed the finish line, I remember looking down and thinking to myself, can I really stop now? Is it really over? What do I do now?
18. Experiencing this with Kari, David and Cathy and my faithful running buddy who I had to beg to sign up- Joy! (Who had a killer time of 2:29:12. What a show off, huh?!)

I look forward to new memories but I'm not looking forward to those butt crack of dawn early morning runs. Wish us luck!