I’m shouting from the rooftops: I finished my second half marathon!

Me and my friends being goofy on the morning of the Athens Half Marathon

Finishing my second half marathon (in the same year as my first, might I add) was no easy feat and I want to shout it from the rooftops! Luckily social media allows us to do that in an easier fashion now. “I’m going to post it on Facebook, tweet about it on Twitter and then blog about it afterwards,” which was my playful response to the random guy behind the camera when he asked if I was going to share the picture above on Facebook. He thought I was being sarcastic, but little did he know that this was exactly what I was going to do. So, here I am trying to write about this experience, but struggling to find the right words to capture the moment I had with my amazing friends. It’s hard to describe how much these friends have been motivating, captivating and inspiring while training for this half marathon and throughout the race. But, let me give it a shot.

Molly post-race in the center posing for the camera

Let’s start with Molly. She’s the one that I really blame for this whole running phenomenon of mine. We used to be work buddies and our friendship blossomed by bonding over deep conversations about Jillian Michaels, plank curls and then essentially running. Molly got me walking during our lunch breaks, and now without her presence in my office, my sneakers sit all alone under my desk, unused. When we used to go walking during work, I felt amazing. Not only did I have a clear head and feel great after these long walks, but I also was able to relieve a ton of stress by griping about whatever I was stupidly mad about that particular day. Then, Molly got into running. She asked me one day how I felt about running during lunch instead of walking. I had been a runner in high school and a little throughout college, but really hadn’t run in a long time or even thought about running. So, we started running together during lunch. And then on the weekends. And then I convinced her to sign up for this half marathon because if I could do a half, she sure as hell could do one. Molly has an amazing personal story that lies behind her being my main source of motivation over the past several years. Maybe I’ll get her to guest blog for me one of these days because I really think the running community, or anyone who likes a good inspirational story, should hear.

Emily after the first half marathon we did together

Then there’s Emily. This was also her second half marathon seeing as how she trained and ran with me for the Atlanta Publix Half through Team in Training. Emily is an impressive runner who makes 10 miles look effortless. I love running with her because she’s a certified counselor, so it’s like therapy and exercising all rolled into one. Emily also doesn’t take no for an answer, so if I complain about running up a hill, she’s encouraging me that I can do it. Not to mention, this running buddy of mine is also vegetarian so we share recipes and tips on what to eat while training. I think I can talk her into running a full marathon with me, but we shall see.

Lori running between the hedges in Sanford Stadium

Next up, Lori. Lori has more determination packed in her little body than anyone I’ve ever met. She just started running a few months before I convinced her to sign up for the half. Her first 5K was in the beginning of this year and with my endless talk about how she should run the half marathon with me, she caved and signed up. During our practice runs, Lori proved to herself that she could push through the miles and accomplish what she never thought was possible. She was crushing the hills that Molly and I had trained on for several years. Throughout training and on the day of the race, Lori was amazing. I felt like a proud Mama bear watching her finish this race. She can really do anything she puts her mind to, and finishing this half marathon strong (she was with me the whole way) just proves this about her.

Here’s a quick video of me and Lori running across the bridge at the stadium:

In a nutshell, those are the amazing girls I trained with over the past several months who were with me every step of the race.  Here’s a group shot of us running that the hubby got while watching the race:

The girls running together at the AthHalf

Oh right, you’re probably wondering who the guy is in the picture at the beginning of this blog with the short shorts and long legs. Well, that’s Dave. He also has impressed me and is a true motivation to many people around him. His fun, cheerful personality has always been infectious, and now he’s doing the same with running and working out.

In April of this year, Dave met up with the four of us girls at the end of a 5K called Run Before You Crawl. The name says it all – you run a 5K and then at 10 AM, you do a pub crawl through East Atlanta. Here’s a picture of the four of us at the first stop on the pub crawl:

The girls at Run Before You Crawl 5K

When Dave met up with us at the pub crawl, he said he would never be able to run 3 miles. He got into the whole boot camp craze a little while after that, and then the rest is history. This was his first half marathon and I’m going to admit I was super jealous of his time (under 2 hours). Now he’s registering for a full marathon in the spring – talk about being a runner to aspire to!

The group after the AthHalf with our medals

Now you can probably tell why it was so hard to put into words how inspirational each and every one of these friends have been during training and throughout the race. I also can’t leave out my helluva husband who made it to five different spots to cheer us on during the race. He continues to support me in all of my endeavors and I really couldn’t have finished 13.1 miles without him as my personal cheerleader. And, last but absolutely not least, my family has been incredible and has shown so much support with my training and running. I do have to give a special shout-out to my good ole Dad. OK, now I feel like I’m at an awards show and they’re queuing the music to get me off the stage. But seriously, my Dad has been somewhat of a coach to me – helping me with training for lacrosse in high school, all the way to currently teaching me different techniques with running. He has given me advice that has gotten me through some tough training runs.

And now I digress. The race itself was awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for a better course on a more gorgeous day with more amazingly awesome friends.Mad love to each and every one of you. And I’m out (mic drops to the ground).