thirteen point one miles

To start off, the weather was in a frightening state: cold, cloudy, windy, and RAIN! I joked about wearing a garbage bag but let me tell you, I wasn't the only one with that genius idea. Cameron and I found ponchos in the rondo fam house and we looked stunning. Can't miss us! I was nervous for some reason before the race. I'm not sure why... I guess because there was an announcer and tons of people and it seemed like a big deal. WAIT! It IS a big deal! This is Lindsay, the girl who hates running who had never ran more than 5 miles in her life! This was indeed a big deal for me. I pinned my number (700, I felt it was a rather lucky number), tied on their tracking chip, and pulled on my poncho-- ready to go.

The announcer let our section go and we were off! But so was the rain! It was hard to look up with the rain in my eyes and my mittens were useless being so soaked. The first few miles were easy but I could tell Cameron was in a lot of pain with his knee. Close to mile four, he had to stop. I gave him a kiss as he sent me on my way. It was a lot sadder than I thought, leaving my running buddy behind. We trained so hard together; I was really bummed to leave him. But he hobbled his way back to the start as I continued on. Well I had to do something to entertain myself... dance party!! Brittany, Rhianna, Nicki, and the Black Eyed Peas came to help me out! How kind of them. (and many more artists, I LOVED all the song suggestions! Thank you!) I snapped and sang (obviously not caring at this point) and danced my little way to 9 miles. Then when boredom truly hit around mile 10'ish, out came the photog jog! I snapped away through the bare vineyards as I kept up my pace.

As mile eleven approached I could see the last stretch up to the starting line. My energy boosted and I was finishing with my fastest pace yet. And there was Cameron! Waiting for me just before the finish line! I waved and ran up to him and he told me to keep running. I ran into the finish line while being cheered on by so many nice people and a dozen of our family members, and by little Krew who was happy to see his mom! It felt sooo nice to be done but yet so accomplishing! Training prepared me so much more than I had ever expected; never was there a point where I felt like dying or collapsing. And I met my goal time and never stopped running! I would definitely do it again after some time, maybe when Cameron is better. I was sore but not as bad as I thought I would be. After all this running, I love how good I feel and everything's a little firmer. :) I had a wonderful support team: all of YOU (I cherished your supporting comments!), my moms, and Cameron.

And guess what, I got a stylish running shirt, a sporty bag, a shiny metal, a proud hubby, lots of hugs and a jumbo BLT and fries for doing it. Maybe I'll do again just for that ;)