My First 25K! Hooray!

On a very cold, rainy, and windy morning of May 8 my dear friend Kirsten (in white) and I laced up our running shoes and hit the pavement of Grand Rapids for 15.5 miles. It was so AWESOME! The sense of accomplishment and exhilaration were worth all those other Saturday morning runs. Try as I might, these pictures are NOT in order. I have played with them enough and this will have to do.
On the morning of the big event my parents came down, my dad stayed home with Christian because he'd been fighting a cold. My mom, Scott, Ella, and Carter piled in the car and made their way through the crowds to get to the finish line. Here I am pictured with 2 of my favorite cheerleaders, Lisa and Julie. They've encouraged me in my training along the way and were sweet enough to brave the elements and cheer us on at different spots throughout the course. Here they are at the finish line!

Here we are right after crossing the finish line. Tired, but thrilled we did it!

The littlest of cheerleaders: Carter was so sweet, all day long he kept saying, "mom I am so proud of you, you ran that race so good! But you didn't win. That's ok. "

Here we are before the race, Kirsten and her husband came in from Detroit so they stayed in a hotel the night before. It was great to go there, meet up,....and use the warm clean bathrooms before we walked out to the start line.

Afterwards in the warm lobby of the JW Marriott (see our very cool medals)

Another one of my very important encourager.....MOM! Thanks for all your support and encouragement. I love you!

Scott and I after the race- thanks honey for allowing me to go on those long runs during my training.

I was so tickled to set this goal and accomplish it. I finished the race in 2 hours and 14 minutes!Kirsten, I am looking forward to our next race. Maybe the Indy Mini, right? But for now, I am slacking. I haven't run since the race. My mind and body are telling me it is time. Everything in life seems a little clearer when I get to run. Boy I'm glad I won't log 15.5 miles again for awhile though. I think I will stick somewhere between 5-8.