RealQuicke: the big run

We did it!!!!!

This is my sister-in-law Chandelle and me at the end of the HALF MARATHON we ran last week!!

Our journey actually began way back in February, when Chandelle called one evening with a crazy idea. She’d heard of a half marathon race happening in my neck of the woods in October. Would I be interested in running it with her?

Uh… well, I’ve always enjoyed running, but I’ve never had the slightest inclination to attempt running any kind of long distance – not to mention running alongside other people in broad daylight. I’m more of an early morning/late night solo kind of runner. And my “running” has always been more jogging, as in fast walkers could probably easily pass me. I am SLOW.

So no, I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the idea. But it would sure be fun for Chandelle to fly out to see us and for us to have a girls weekend! And gosh, October, was soooo far away. Why not, just tentatively, go along with it?

We started a training program and just kept plodding along. I was feeling fairly positive about things until school started and my late-night running schedule was no longer feasible. I nose-dived all month and was feeling utter despair and panic in the weeks before this stupid run.

But guess what? I DID IT!!!!

Here we are bright and early before the race.

At the starting line, along with over 2600 other women.

The first 5 or 6 miles whizzed by pretty easily. And then, right smack at the halfway point, I started feeling nauseous and thought I might just have to walk the second half.

But I wasn’t there on my own, was I? Nope. My dear friend Chandelle was right there with me. And she kept running. And so I kept running. My ankles hurt, my heel was spazzing out, my muscles were seizing up. I wondered what on earth was the point of doing this nutso race? But we kept running.

And then at long last we saw the finish line. And it was very motivating.

That was one awesome medal we got.

It was a “divas” race. Very girly. We got tiaras and pink boas and roses and champagne. And we loved every bit of it!

Before heading back, we swung by the beach.

Such a dazzling day. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect.

Rob had held down the fort while we were gone, and the kids were quite perplexed to see us return in such pink sparkly glory.

It didn’t take Sophie long to get in on the diva spirit.

So that was our big event!

Would I do it again? If you’d have asked me at mile 6 or 7 or 11 or 13, I would have said an emphatic NO! But now that a week has passed and my sore muscles have stopped moaning so loudly, it doesn’t seem like it was all that bad. So if running a half marathon means I could have a girls weekend in the city every year with Chandelle, it might be worth doing again…

Of course, spending this time with her was the main highlight for me. The day before the race we went into Manhattan to see the World Trade Center Memorial.

There’s still a ton of construction going on. Did you know they’re building 5 new skyscrapers around the site? One of them is going to be significantly taller than the previous towers.

Guess what else was going on while we were in the area?

Wall Street protests.

Between the time we parked the car and the time we returned, a massive demonstration had started, and we were trapped in the middle of it and there was no way we were going to be crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. It took us 2 hours to make our way to Long Island. Oh joy.

The rest of our time together was purely delightful though. Lots of coffee and chatting and strolling through our beautiful neighbor town Warwick. And apple picking!