Since the last week of September I have been training for the White Rock Marathon in Dallas, TX. This marathon benefits Scottish Rite Hospital and my friend’s son is a patient at the hospital. My friends Brylyn and Natalie have been getting up in the mornings and training to run this half marathon with me. This is a first for all of us. To start the weekend off my dad was admitted into the hospital and I had to make a decision whether to miss or go and with some guidance I decided to go ahead. I was gone for less than 24 hours so I just hoped everything would be ok till I got back.
On Saturday, Erin, Emmy and I flew into Dallas where Brylyn picked us up and we went and checked into our very luxurious hotel The Fairmont. After we checked in and met up with Jennifer a close friend who moved to Austin this past summer, we went and got our running packets from the expo. At the expo we met up with our friend CeCe who also moved away, so in a way it was kind of like a reunion. After the expo we went and ate a wonderful dinner provided by Natalie’s family and got to visit. Then we went back to our hotel room and all six of us stayed in the same room which as you can imagine was quite entertaining.
Sunday, December 5, “Race Day,” we all got up to some exciting ring tones and got ready CeCe in her “hohoho” socks and all. On the way to the race we got a little lost and then we found our way, little did we know that everyone else was running late too and there we were still in the car at 7:05 am and the race started at 8 am. As the cars were moving at a snail’s pace, people started getting out of their cars and running to the race because they were sure they would make it and I wasn’t sure we would. I truly wanted to get out because I did not go all that way to miss the race, but my friends convinced me not too. We were listening to Emmy’s iPod trying to get pumped up while deep inside I was thinking “we are going to miss it and I came all this way.” Somewhere in my thoughts I blurted out “I HATE MARATHONS” and it kind of lightened the mood and then all the sudden the cars started going. We finally made it to the marathon with minimal time to spare which was fine because we had to stand for an hour before we even got to start the race!
It was utter chaos how many people were running the race. Let me just say if I was claustrophobic I would have been freaking out. After passing all the beautiful buildings and lavish homes I was on the home stretch and all I could think was I MADE IT. I finished a half marathon in 2 hours 37 minutes, which I think was pretty good for the minimal training that I did. My friend Erin finished before me and it was so exciting to have her there at the end! What a wonderful experience and I got a medal!
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