Huntington Beach Half Marathon

What to say, What to say? Well the one thing I can say for sure is that I won't be running any major races until summer. Why? Because I seriously pulled my right calf muscle and have not enjoyed not being able to walk for 4 days... :( Other than that, this was my best race ever. I have to say I'm pretty frustrated with the injury. I'm sure it's due to overusage so I'm giving it a break and I'm going to do a bootcamp with my running group and strengthen up the rest of me in the meantime. I know better than to be injured, I felt the soreness during the race, but just thought "I'll give it a rest after this race".... I'm giving it a rest, alright. Enough with the bad stuff....on to the good stuff.

I had a really great weekend with the Ho family. Kevin's cousin, Brett, is a runner in a kids group in Orange County and awhile back we were talking about how fun it would be to do a race together. That's how this race came to be. It's part of his marathon training program and I could never say no to a great run by the beach! They picked me up from the airport on Friday night and we headed to the expo Saturday. We got to the expo just in time because when we got there we went right in, but the line we saw on the way out had to be hundreds of people long.... I was so glad not to be them!

We hit up Paul's Deli for some seriously delicious sandwiches before heading back to the house. Back at the house the kids introduced me to the Kinect for Xbox.... Hello! Fun! We did track & field games, bowling, soccer, and Kinectimals - which was totally cool! I'm trying to put together the best way to let Kevin know that we will be getting one very soon :) Sharon, Teresa, & Cam Jr (he is getting sooooo big!) stopped by for a visit and then we wrapped up the evening with pasta and a pep talk from Brett's running coach.

Sleep................

RACE DAY! I never have too much to say about races, except for they are awesome. Brett and I stuck together for the first few miles and then I pulled back and he moved on. Surprisingly enough, I only finished 5 minutes after him! Not too shabby! I did not go into this race planning to PR, it just happened. The course was a little tougher than I thought and maybe that's what pushed me to go harder... plus it was really motivating to have Ronda & Garrett there cheering me on! Thanks so much to you two! Around Mile 9 when I started to slow down a little the pace setter for 2:04 caught up to me..... I was SHOCKED that I had been in front of her! So I decided to stick it out and keep up the pace for the last miles and 100% earned my PR. It was overwhelming in the end.... the good kind.

Personal Record 2:05:46

If I look like I'm in pain it's because I was... :)

We wrapped the weekend up being wonderfully lazy and I had a few well deserved beers before heading back to the airport.

I have to end by giving a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who donated to The Free Wheelchair Mission! I was able to raise $559.20 for the cause, which made, sent and delivered 9 wheelchairs to people who might have never had the gift of mobility! Thank you from the bottom of my soles for helping me make each of my 13.1 miles matter!!!