A couple weeks ago I ran a half marathon here in Mankato. It's the second year Mankato has hosted the half/full marathon, and it's already gaining more visibility, runners and fans. My work is one of the sponsors, so it's fun to partake on both the lead vehicle side (which I rode in last year when I was prego) and now the runner side.
It was a beautiful, sunny fall morning, and I got to run it with one of my best friends, Christi. Come to think of it, she's ran 3 of the 4 halfs I've done. We're both tall, so we've realized we have about the same exact stride and can easily run together. Nice having a running buddy!
We both did much better than expected on our time...still not our best, but getting closer to that time again. She has 2 little kids, and we can both attest that training is much more difficult post-kiddo than pre. But boy does it feel good to hit the pavement - running is still my #1 stress reliever and is the perfect way to collect my thoughts.
This half was extra awesome because Jeremy, Ashlynn, Heather and Luke surprised me by showing up on the course. I was certain Jeremy was going to be working because harvest has been keeping him extra busy, even on the weekends. So he said he made plans to take Ashlynn to his parents' house while he worked that morning at the implement. Bummer, but I figured he'd be busy. Well, at mile 3 of the race I spotted his cousin Heather taking pictures and got really excited, thinking she and Luke came out. I looked next to her to find Jeremy holding Ashlynn cheering us on. What a perfect surprise. They cheered at a couple different spots throughout the course and then the finish. This was a big deal because Jeremy's never been able to watch one of my half marathons - they always happen to be in the spring or fall (planting or harvest), and they've all been out of town. It meant the world that they all came out and supported what I love to do.
The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with Christi and getting some good catch up time in. My legs were pretty sore the next two days, but it was worth it!
With a couple of my coworkers and our Snell shirts...Vroom!
1 comment:
Way to go Anne!!!!!!!
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