The Other One

On Sunday was the other half I got to do this month, the Georgia half marathon. Because Jake had to be away at his retreat, gigantic thanks go to my family who added my three to the other six children who were fed and loved on while my mom and I went to the race.

Joy sends a special shout-out to her Uncle Chris who manned up to a really epic diaper when he retrieved her in the morning. Par for the course for his level of uncle-hood, but still deserves some recognition.

The pre-race was the exact opposite of our Seaside weekend. That weekend, we ate just right, slept soundly, and had a calm organized morning of the race. This weekend, I enjoyed all the birthday treats of the day before, the babies were up almost hourly that night, Mom overslept 25 minutes (though somehow still it out the door on time), and on the way to the race, I discovered that not only was my phone dead but calamities of calamities...

I had forgotten my iPod. I might as well have forgotten my running shoes.

But when we arrived to the race and I saw the sign of a 2:00 pace group float past Mom and I, and decided to latch onto them. I'm so glad I did! It was amazing how exact their splits were, and I will always look for a pace group in the future!

I kept up with them until 12 miles, when I peeled off and ended up finishing at 1:59:04. Ironically, I was less exhausted than I was just two weeks ago- because I actually ran a steady pace the whole way instead of having a three minute difference between the first and second half of the race like I did at Seaside.

It was so fun to run into the Rutherfords at the finish and see sweet little Cooper again (see Wednesday on this post). Way to go, Lynds, to get out the door, maneuver Marta and watch your man run... all with a newborn!

Mom had a great run as well- she also got a special shirt and bib for it being her FIFTH year in a row to run this race. Way to go, Mom! It was so fun to share the morning with you!