I don't think I've ever been more proud of the City of Houston than I was when I was standing at the half-marathon starting line under a menacing gray sky and a light drizzle listening to Mayor Annise Parker welcome all of the runners who had braved the rain to run around the city that morning. A Chronicle columnist recently wrote that all you need to be a runner are "determination and willpower." My city proved it has those qualities in abundance. Consider this a shout-out, H-town.
The run went pretty well for me. I ran the whole thing and finished in 2 hrs 16.5 minutes. I had wanted to finish in 2 hours 10 minutes, but six minutes off pace during my first attempt at that distance isn't too shabby. After a few days of reflection, I am disappointed that I didn't push harder during the last three miles. I know now that I could have. But I'm still very happy to have finished. Next time I'll come in under 2:10.
There is no way I would have been on the starting line on Sunday morning without three smart, successful, fit, fun, beautiful Baylor women-turned-UT-law grads. To see people making positive things happen in their lives and having them encourage you to do the same is one thing. But having these same people be women with whom you spent three years searching for Austin's best margarita is infinitely better. Michelle, mother of a three-year-old and a one-year-old and a practicing lawyer, ran the full Marathon. That means she started training when she had a tiny infant. Lactating boobs; sleepless night after sleepless night; the teething; the neediness. But she found a way to get out and train for this race and finish it. Two words. Bad Ass. Jennie, full-time lawyer, did not run this marathon. No, she is too busy training for an Iron Man Triathlon in May (2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bike + 26.2 mile run all in under 15 hours). She came to Houston to pace Michelle and help her get to the finish line. Again, two words. Bad Ass. Jen, the third member of this group, could not make the race this year because she is about to give birth to her second baby boy any day now. But she has done several 10-Ks with me, including my very first attempt at distance running, and I know she will be up for more races in the future.
Michelle, Jennie and me after the race:
My biggest fan, Brian, also got me out there that morning. He has spent a whole lot of hours parenting solo on the weekends so I could get out and run. And when we woke up at 4:50 am on race day, I'm pretty sure he was even more excited than I was. I'll make that number 694 on my long list of reasons why I love my husband.
Thanks also go to Dad and Linda for babysitting Elizabeth in the wee hours of the morning so Amanda and Brian could line the race route and cheer for me. Elizabeth had a great time, as this picture attests:
This was the first weekend of a very busy month. Up next is a trip (sans kids - thanks to my dear in laws!) to DC to see two of the other amazing women in our lives -- my sister-in-law Caroline and my dear friend Kathleen. More on that when we return, assuming the weather doesn't ruin our plans!
7 comments:
I'll tell you what else is Bad Ass...my wife deciding 6 months ago that she wanted to run a half-marathon. After 4 years of pregnancies and newborns and no prior experience with distance running, she decided she would do it and she did. Couldn't be more proud of her.
Brian
You did awesome, Samantha! You have no reason to beat yourself up for running 6 minutes slower than your goal. Think about how much progress you made in the last year - at the Cap10K last year, our goal was just to run 6.2 miles, without regard to time. Less than 10 months later, you ran twice as far with a speed goal, and very nearly beat your goal! Fantastic!!!
You are indeed my biggest fan, Brian. And thanks Jen! Can't wait until we're running together again.
You are amazing. And it's even more impressive that you're hungry for more! Keep at it, you look great, that's a huge accomplishment to be proud of. Your anonymous commenter was too proud to even comment on your use of "shout-out."
I don't know why but this made me cry the good way. So that's weird.
What a nice post, Samantha! It was so great to get to do this with you...let's plan more races in the future to keep us motivated! Thanks to you and Brian for feeding us afterwards. My legs are just now recovering from that weekend! Now we have to get Jennie to the Iron Man!
You are a natural, Samantha! To run your first half in that time is really fantastic. That post is just wonderful too - very sweet and evidence of what a great writer you are. Here's to many more runs with the BU/UT gals!
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