As part of my series finale, I decided to take on the half marathon for the first time - I have only ran the 5K in the past years. Momma K was running the 5K to complete her series (Papa J was supposed to run the 5K, however a brutal case of food poisoning prevented him from racing).
The morning started off rough between Papa J's food poisoning and trying to get to the race (a lot of the roads were closed the way we took so we had a delay getting there). As soon as we arrived I hit up the porta-potty line which I am glad I did because the line grew very quickly and did not move very fast.
We had a large group of Team Awesome runners running and cheering today which always makes for a fun time. A few months ago, my friend Becky (remember her from the Hot Chocolate 15K?) told me that if I do the half marathon that she will run it with me - DEAL! If there is one thing that I have learned, it is that sometimes you just need to have fun races (especially when you know you need to take it easy before a big race). While at the starting line, our friend Robin asked if she could tag along with us....ummmm TOTALLY! Robin had also ran the Tartan Trot 10K the day before so she was just wanting to take it easy and have fun too.
We had an absolute blast on course. We danced, took selfies, chit-chatted, high-fived other runners and volunteers, and even sang happy birthday to a runner. Yes, we were THOSE RUNNERS.
After we crossed the finish line, Becky and I ran back to run in with a fellow runner who was running her 1st half marathon that we met earlier in the race. It is always a wonderful feeling to be a part of someone's special day of becoming a 1/2 marathoner. We also took pictures with our new bling and cheered for the remaining runners on course with our Team Awesome peeps.
Typically, I would have gone to post-race pancakes with my Team Awesome peeps, but I had a lot to do so I had to head home soon after the race was over. It was a great morning with awesome friends to say the least. Back-to-back race weekends are tough, but with friends like these, anything is possible.