Savannah Baby

For the past 4 months, Damien and I have been training....for a half marathon. Sure it's like it's 4th half (not to mention he's ran 3 full marathons) but it's my FIRST. Never did I think that I would sign up for a half marathon.  After watching Damien finish his full marathons in Chicago, I thought I'd like to try it but without that whole training thing because it's just too time consuming.  I shocked myself by signing up, but I felt the peer pressure to do so. For this race, a few couples from our Sunday school decided to do the half in Savannah.  I had no intentions, but after talking to both husbands and wives, I discovered I was the only one not planning on participating.  As much as I hate to run, I hate being left out too.  Thus began the training.

I knew running took up time and with littles, I had to work around their schedules. In no way, would I push a child and run. Nope, I have limits.  I started out with most my running on a treadmill, then one day I finally hit the ground to run.  I will admit, it was torture.  (Now, I think running on the dread mill I mean treadmill is miserable.)  Finally one day, I just did 8 miles....then I found myself stuck there.  I was constantly saying to Damien, how am I going to get past 8 miles.  That's when I had to enlist back up, Gloria.  Gloria was running the half with us.  I found that I just needed some to run with to push me to the breaking point.  We did 9, then 10, then 11 and finally we did 13. Yes we skipped 12 because why not just go ahead and do the whole thing.  During training, I did 13.1 miles in 2:18 and 2:15. I was ready.

Eight of us where running in the race, for 4 of us, it would be our first half marathon. I found a saying that I thought was perfect, " to become a marathoner, you just have to become a runner. The race is merely the celebration of how healthy you've gotten as a result."  and healthy, we have become.  I lost about 9 lbs.  One guy in our group, lost 30 lbs and got off most his medicine.  This race, was our victory lap.  During my training I did 200 miles that I counted, that was before I actually started counting...so probably more like 220. I can't believe I put that many miles on my shoes.

Before the race, we went to the expo, picked up some gear an did a little yoga (Gloria and I did yoga.) After the expo, we did a trolley tour of Savannah. (we didn't get off at any of the sites.  I would love to go back on day and really tour it.) Forrest Gump was filmed here.  The movie and book of a "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" was based on a true story of a Savannah man.  Martin Luther King Jr practiced is "I've got a dream" speech in the basement of the oldest African church (where the underground railroad was said to have traveled under as well).  One of the first houses to have plumbing is here (even before the white house). Much, much more.

Beach time....just a wee bit chilly. I had to go back and get my jacket.

Yoga on the lawn at the expo with Gloria

Ferry ride to Savannah from the expo with my new gear

I am obsessed with these live oak trees with Spanish moss.  Breath taking

2nd largest private art school in the country "SCAD"

Yummy treats....pralines

Whistlestop Cafe a la "Fried Green Tomatoes"

Race Day! Early wake up call to catch the 5am shuttle to Savannah

My goal was two fold....I would take either goal.  I wanted to finish at least doing what I did in training and/or finish it without walking.  See I kind of said I was planning to finish at 1:50. I wanted to finish close to the same time Damien did. I didn't want him standing around waiting for me.  I was put in corral 3 out of 31 (18,500 runners).  I was like a fake elite runner. Jokes were made all weekend about my eliteness.  I had to accept that most everyone was going to pass me...and I shouldn't do anything about it. If I try to keep up with those in my corral, I would exhaust myself and essentially shoot myself in the foot.  Several times, I had to say to myself "it's okay that they are passing you". The first 6 miles zipped by.  I enjoyed the signs and crowd. My favorite sign "worst parade ever".  I had to coach myself "only 4 more miles, like 40 minutes" Many times, I wanted to walk and I continued to run.  Mind over matter.  When I saw that finish line about 50 yards away, I sprinted. I started feeling light headed but in my mind, every second counted. If I could beat Damien, he'd never live it down.  I did not beat him.  His final time was 1:55.  My final time was 2:07:04.  I couldn't believe how much I shaved off my training time.  I kept about a 9:45 pace.  This little ole "if I am running, someone is chasing me" girl to "watch me run 13 miles in just over 2 hours". 

Forsyth Park provided the perfect back drop for final race pictures. 

The group. Our fearless leaders Bob and Beth, Gloria and Chris (us) and Jacqui and Jason

We had a celebratory dinner at the melting pot. We ate every bit of it.  We had the calories to consume. 

 We have already began talking about next time.  I am looking forward to a few weeks or months of running not dictating my schedule. Damien said what if this is your talent.  I replied, I don't think God would give you a talent you don't really enjoy.  Maybe, just maybe I will start to crave it when I don't have to do it.

Dylan's Musical Mix Up

I love that Dylan loves music. I love listening to him sing with the radio.  He sometimes gets the lyrics messed up...ok more than sometimes.  For Counting Stars, his lyrics were "baby, I see nothing to the fleas" the real lyrics, "lately, I've been, I've been loosing sleep."  For Iggy's "Black Widow Baby", the lyrics are "I'm going to love you, like a black widow, baby" he sang, " I'm going to love you like a black little baby."

I love him so much. Too cute. 

Dylan's Second Loose Tooth

Well, the second tooth to bite the big one, wasn't too far behind the first one.  Dylan pulled his second tooth as well.  The tooth fairy delivered $1 and a tooth receipt.  HAHA...this most be his lucky shirt as this was what he was wearing when he lost the first one.  

RIP 2nd tooth - 11/5/14