nike women's 2010

hands down, this is my favorite race ever. it's my fourth year running. and i've still only been "maren" once. this year, my entry was thanks to angela, who injured herself in a triathlon two weeks prior. boo. but we musn't let a perfectly good race entry go unused. so i happily volunteered. 

i mentioned she injured herself two weeks prior, right? that meant i didn't know i was running a half marathon until two weeks prior to actually running it. and i really haven't been running much lately. i injured myself in july. i have no idea how it happened or even what happend, but it hurt. i couldn't even walk one day. so i rested for a week. then i did yoga. and it killed again. so i rested for a week. then i did yoga. and it killed again. so i rested for six weeks. and then a very chubby-feeling maren started to run - slowly - again. and then decided to run a half marathon. 

i ran with kaylynn, who was running the full in honor of seven-months-pregnant julia, who has run this race since its inception seven years ago. kaylynn actually trained for the race. and trained well. a full minute and a half per mile faster than me. but i decided i'd keep up for at least a mile or two. and i kept up for four and could still see her at five. but my darn shoelaces kept unlacing and i was thiiiiiiirsty {which is strange, because my friends always call me a camel - i rarely drink during runs!}. but i felt good about it. and then my iPod and i kept on my pace for the remainder of the race with the exception of two steep hills when my hip started hurting exactly where it hurt in june. so i took the hills easy. 

and you know what? i ran a course best.

and i enjoyed every second of the flats, the uphills, the downhills, the dry skies, the rain, the cool temps, the crowds, the tshirts, my yellow shorts, the encouraging signs, the breathtaking beauty that is highway 1 and my body's ability to up and run 13.1 miles on a whim. i am truly grateful for that.

and then i spent two hours shivering in the rain because, after four years of running this, we still haven't figured out how to find each other at the end. i found julia - and my warm, dry clothes - as kaylynn was crossing the finish line for the full two hours after i finished. 

and then we enjoyed a nice, warm breakfast at squat and gobble. yum. 

thanks angela for the bib. 

thanks kaylynn for the company. 

thanks julia and brook for the support crew-ing.

and thanks julia for the encouragement to run this race four years ago. 

 

p.s. bangs + rain are not a pretty idea.

favorite signs this year:

"run like snot"

"run like you stole something"

 and...

"on a scale of 1 to 10, my wife's a 26.2" 

ryan WILL be sporting that saying on a shirt during my next full marathon.