13.1 miles!!!!

A few months ago some friends from the ward decided to get together a running group to train for the Charlottesville half-marathon. I may have been a little crazy at the time, but I decided it sounded like a great motivation to get back into shape.

So Glen and I started spending 2-3 hours each Saturday testing the limits of my endurance by running longer than I've ever run before. Of course Glen has run a couple of marathons, so I was definitely a hindrance to his pace...but he was patient with me and kept me moving forward.

So on Friday afternoon, seven other women from the ward and I headed down to Charlottesville, a beautiful little college town in the Shenandoah's and we loaded up on pasta, registered for the race, and just hung out...without any kids!!! Quite a rare experience considering we had 21 kids between us all! Of course all of this was with a definite nervous tension about what was to come in the morning!

I didn't bring my camera with me, so all I have until my friend
emails her pictures from the day, are these photos from the
race's website bragging about how beautiful the course is.

On Saturday morning, a gorgeous April day, we woke up at 5:00am, tried to eat just enough to give us energy without making us sick and headed to the starting line.

Conveniently the website neglected to show a photo of
the killer hill at mile 5! Actually if I'd done my research better
I would have realized that this course is "famous" not only
for it's beautiful scenery, but also its hilliness!

At 6:30 the gun went off and we were off...2-1/2 hours later I was finally done. I'm exhausted and sore even a day and a half later, but I DID IT!

Yay!