Fabulous Day

Auburn won, Alabama lost, great football in general, did I mention that Alabama lost?... and we had a fantastic race morning!

It was COLD- 34 degrees at start and finish! But it was so fun. Ericka was speedy from the beginning, but my childhood friend Betsy and I ran the whole way together and got in the last year's worth of catching up while we ran. My watch froze from the cold at the starting line, so I had no clue what our pace was and didn't really care because we were too busy talking. At around 10 miles, Betsy looked at her watch, and we were running a two-minute faster pace than my training runs have been! We ended up finishing 30 minutes faster than I expected (though it was still 20 minutes slower than I used to run it in high school and college, but hey- that was 10 years and three kids ago, right?!), and it was a breeze doing it because of sweet conversation with a precious friend. Ericka came in 8 min ahead of us, and it was her first time to run the full 13- so she had an incredible run, too.

Here is Chateau Elan, part of the vineyard, and the last hill going up to the finish line.

Thankfully, Jake got there early enough, despite our estimated time being so far off, to be there on that last stretch to so he and Abby Jane could cheer for us! He said she got so excited to see us running, and it was so precious to get to wave to her.

Being met at the end of a big run by my husband and child is definitely one of those incredibly precious sweet life moments- the kind of thing my girlfriends and I used to see and say, "Oh that will be so fun!" It is.

Bets with her 2 yr old twins, Hannah and Eli, with Jane and I.
It's amazing how a pink radio can help foster friendship quickly. What's crazy is that Betsy and I were only two years older than these girls when we first became friends!

It is extremely impressive that three two year olds fascinated by a freezing cold fountain didn't end with someone getting really wet.

Mom had a great run as well- note that she is in sleeveless shirt and shorts, and I am by this point holding onto Abby Jane as tight as I can for warmth!

One last shout-out for Mom- I hope I'm running half-marathons when folks can cheer "Go Grammy" or whatever my grandma name will be- that's pretty amazing. Her goal is to race until she can win her age division because she's so old no one else is in it. Good plan, Mom.