A.J.A.M.S.: January 2008

What an amazing run I had on Sunday. By amazing I mean: fun, great weather, felt great....just a nice "go out and have a fun run" kind of morning!! So, I've officially competed in two 1/2 marathons (OKC and PHX)...does that equal a full marathon??? My first 1/2 marathon was about 2 1/2 years ago...pre-Aja...I really thought I was in better shape then, but my recent 1/2 proved that I may have trained a little better this time around! That makes all of the runs I had to get done either early in the morning, late at night or during the middle of the day (mostly when Aja was sleepling!) all worth it!! My OKC time was 2 hrs 35 minutes, but Sunday in Phoenix, I ran across the finish at 2 hrs 14 minutes...knocking off 21 minutes!!! Maybe I am not getting as old as I thought! Am I sore today? What do you think? YES!!!! My quads, knees, hamstrings, calves, back...all that fun stuff that follows running 13.1 miles! You have a lot of time to think while running, so here are some things that kept me motivated along the way: seeing a little boy hold a sign that said: "my daddy's my superhero"...I pretended it was Aja holding that sign for me, but with the word mommy, obviously, instead; the spectacular view of mts. and palm trees that i never get to normally see when i go for a run; a billboard that showed Curious George and him saying read to your child 15 minutes a day (this made me feel good that i was also accomplishing that with Aja); planes arriving and departing in the air made me run harder knowing that I would be on a plane the very next morning on my way back to my family!; after tearing off my gloves, an occasional touch to my wedding ring reminded me of Aaron and how i wished he was there to see me; a little dog that looked just like Sophie made me run a little faster as well; another runner who was also wearing pig tails (i tried so hard to stay with her...but i think she eventually got ahead); the 3 small hills that this course offered...i was passing guys my age and that made me very pumped!; also, regarding the hills....(going up) that was a strong point i had in hs cc...so i kept telling myself to pass people on your way up...as many as possible!; a girl w/ a bearcat shirt on and a girl with OMAHA on the back of her shirt (both motivated me!); a necklace that i had forgotten to take off before the race (one from my best friend), made me run faster b/c she's a runner herself; and last, but not least, my little bag of gummy bears came in handy on mile 10!!! I finished, felt incredible and was ready to eat lots and lots of food!!! To finish off a great trip, Aja met me at the airport by running down the airport ramp with her arms stretched out before her!!! It was the longest time I'd ever been away from her...but I think it was good for both of us!