I was going to have this post up last week, but two things happened. First, I was waiting on the official race pictures to come through since I figured there would be a few I would want to include in this post (and I was right!). Second, and more importantly, I was too emotionally distraught over the ending of Parenthood to focus on anything as silly as a race recap. I'm tearing up just thinking about it! Man, that show.
Anyway, back to the point. Two weekends ago, two really fun things happened.
1. I ran half marathon #8.
2. I met a blogger friend!
I signed up for the Miracle Match Half Marathon after reading Tamara's recap of the race from last year. She was doing it again this year, and we decided to run together! We've been reading each other's blogs for a few years, but we'd never met in person. I figured I knew her well enough by now to be fairly confident she wasn't a sociopathic killer, but just in case, my mom decided to come with me. You really can't be too safe these days.
Waco is about a two-hour drive from my parents' house in Dallas, so my mom and I had to get up at dark thirty to get there in time for the 7:30 start time. We almost didn't get up at all because my alarm was set for Wednesdays only (why?), and my mom had woken up to hear alarm then immediately turned it off. Our saving grace was my dad, who set his alarm so he could be awake to see us off. Thanks, Dad!
Two hours later, my mom and I sat anxiously in the car while I planned our meeting spot with Tamara. When she and I saw each other across the parking lot, we ran toward each other with our arms out in slow motion like Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler in that last scene from Armageddon.
Okay maybe not. But the point is: she was not wielding a sharp object or wearing a ski mask. What a relief.
Tamara is a tad slower than me as far as running goes, but I decided to take friendly chatting over a chance at a PR, and we ran together the whole way. It's really just much more fun to run with someone than to run by yourself anyway, and if your like me, those opportunities are rare so you have to snatch them up!
^^Thumbs up is my default pose. All day long.
We were not, shall I say, out to break any records. I stopped to pee approximately one tramillion times (my bladder has decided it hates me and wants to be the size of a walnut), and we just ran and walked and chatted away for about 3 hours. We both agreed that if we lived closer, we would definitely be friends.
^^^ We saw this sign along the route and stopped to take a picture in front of it. I'm supposed to be fake running. It looked less lame in my mind.
The course was extremely hilly, so I was glad I wasn't going in for a PR. The scenery was beautiful! We ran around Baylor campus, through the park, and even through the zoo! We wound through exhibits and saw rhinos and wombats and some other animals I can't remember.
^^^ Right around mile 11 there was the option to take a .1-mile detour up this giant set of stairs called Jacob's Ladder. We figured what the heck. At the end of the race we got this clip-on ladder thing that we hung on our medal! (This is where I would hashtag "I run for the bling")
^^^The thumbs up. Seriously. Someone stop me.
Check out this awesome picture of us crossing the finish line! Probably one of the best race pics I have, and they were free! Winning. My mom had gone to Sbucks for coffee, but she made it back in time to cheer us on to the finish. I love my parents. They don't understand my love of running, but they support me and I appreciate it.
On our way back to Dallas, my mom and I stopped in West, Texas (the town of West, not to be confused with the general region of West Texas), at the Czech Stop for kolaches. I'd never heard of kolaches before, but apparently stopping at the Czech Stop for kolaches is a thing, so we couldn't pass it up.
I mean, clearly a homemade pastry is just what I need for a post-race snack. They're filled with a variety of flavors depending on what you choose--apple, cheesecake, peach, lemon... They were delicious! Worth a stop in West if you happen to be driving by.
I've been sitting here for like five minutes trying to think of a good way to end this post, and I can't come up with anything better than: The End.
So, yeah.
The end.