First Half Marathon

This is my blog from the day after my first half marathon, October, 2010. 

I have a million things to do, but I had to go ahead and tell my story or I'll forget....
I was so nervous yesterday, I was shaking. You know, I'm not a runner by talent, that's for sure. I'm not fast.... even when I'm sprinting, I'm not fast. I have feet and ankles and knees that are not exactly great. I have lots of things that work against my training to run, but I definitely wanted to experience this kind of thing, and I was not letting soreness or children or time or whatever keep me from it.

I'm so thankful that Rus had this idea that day over coffee. I wouldn't have do it if he hadn't. And I wouldn't have done it without Ali's partner runs with me. I remember the first long run... the 4 mile one... CRYING while I ran around the Ed Center. LOL! And she ran along side me telling me I'd already passed my 5K point! She was lying.

Yesterday, as we took off, she started running next to me and I told her to go ahead and do her best. She did, and I am SO SO impressed with her 2:13 time! I'm not even sure she's ever run a 5K... since she thought they were going to mail her the race packet. ;)

I checked to see how far I'd run at an early part of the run. I was glad it had already been 3 miles. I was scared I'd look and it would say 1. I looked again at about mile 4 and realized I'd stopped my runkeeper back at mile 3! So I came up on the the mile 5 and restarted it, after stopping for a bathroom break! UGH. I knew I had to run until it said 8 miles.

At about mile 8 or 9, there happened to be nobody around me. It was really kind of strange. There were lots way out in front, and lots way back, but it felt like I was running all alone. I was listening to a CD called "Alive Forever" by Travis Cottrell. My choir did this very concert several years ago and we were given this CD to help us learn it, but I love the CD. I don't remember exactly what song it was I was listening to.... maybe "In Christ Alone"... anyway, I was looking straight ahead and just saw road and beautiful blue sky and trees and felt this wonderful breeze blowing, and thought how awesome all of this is that God created, and like a slide show, I just saw all these pictures flash though my head of things that God has done for me throughout my lifetime. The pictures were random and very clear and really very fast, and there's no way I have time to type out all of them. Hundreds of them. I'm crying right now just thinking about it. It was so surreal. And I was so thankful and felt so loved and taken care of. I'll never forget that.... ever.

I was FINE until about mile 10. I started getting tired. I admit I looked at my runkeeper a LOT during mile 10 and 11. 11 was just really torture. I even walked just a little during 11. When I came on mile 12, I knew I only had a mile to go, so I had a little energy. And then I saw this super energetic girl running in the wrong direction to me. When I realized it was Ali coming to run with me to the finish, I started just crying! But then it started messing my breathing up!!! :) So I had to get it together and I said, "Just to let you know.... I'm going to lose it when we cross the finish." When we saw the finish, she said, "Let's go fast," and we sprinted (as much as I can "sprint") to the finish. And I did lose it a little. :) And then when Lenny finally found me and hugged me, I lost it a little again.  My time was 2:26.  I was pleased.  I was elated, actually.

It was just an amazing morning.

The Progressive Cocktail Adventure

Progressive dinners aren't uncommon.  My family does one every Christmas.  One house has appetizer, one soup, one salad, one entree, one dessert.  It takes forever, and I love that.  For people like me who love food, making Christmas dinner into a 5-hour event is great fun.  So I wondered... Can you do a progressive cocktail event?

One of my great friends from way back and I decided we wanted to do just that.  We started at Bravo for what was called a Lord Byron, an Earl Grey infused simple syrup mixed with champagne and a zest of lemon.  It's served in a champagne glass and is absolutely delicious.  Not too sweet.  Very refreshing.  Service there was quick and friendly.  We were in and out in swift time and made our way to the next location.

Our next stop was Ely's.  Neither of us had ever been there to eat dinner before, and we were only getting a cocktail, so we went to the bar.  After what seemed like an eternity, someone finally came to our table to get our drink order.  I chose a Lemondrop Martini, vodka and sweet and sour with a sugared rim.  It was very easy to drink, yet not incredibly sweet.  In highsight I wish I had ordered their signature drink, the Pineapple Ely, pineapple infused Stoli vodka served up or on the rocks.  The big jug of this stuff sits on the bar... a HUGE jug with a stack of pineapple slices two feet high, covered in vodka.  They are obviously proud of this drink since they charge $13 it.  My interest is peaked though, and I will try that next time.  The waitress did bring us bread and butter, which was nice.  We probably did need to eat.  Our stay there was so long that we had to go ahead to our dinner stop, Pan Asia.

The bartender at Pan Asia made us a drink that he created.  He called it Cucumber Fusion.  It was similar to a mojito, but he used cucumbers instead of limes and gin instead of rum.  It was incredibly refreshing with all the mint and very strong.  We couldn't finish it.  It probably could have used a little more simple syrup or Sprite, or whatever he used to cut the gin.  Dinner was delicious, but I do believe that wine would be my drink of choice at Pan Asia.

All in all we had a great time and tried some delicious drinks.  I'd love to do this again and go to Mint and Bonefish.  And I'll post again when I do.  Cheers.