Let the Races Begin!!!

So what got me into starting to register and run these races you ask?? OH BOY (literally)!!!

::Enter my husband, but new boyfriend in my life at the time, Andrew::

Andrew and I had been dating "officially" for a couple of weeks and he knew that I was a runner (not competitively at the time...) and that I would go to Town Lake all the time and run 3 miles. (At the time... that was my MAX! The seven miles I ran in high school with my dad was an amazing fluke, and I had never run that far since.)  Andrew wanted to get started running again, and told me about the Austin Capitol 10K.  He mentioned that his mother comes in town every year to run this race with him and that I should get my dad to do it too, and we can meet each other's parents (at least one on each side).  I was so excited about this, and immediately called my dad. Of course, he was completely up for the challenge!

This weekend was also Mothers' Weekend for Delts and JB (as she will be called), Andrew's mom, had come in town early to participate in the Delt weekend festivities.  Unfortunately, the night before the race she ate a bad orange (literally) in her Blue Moon and had the worst food poisoning experience she had ever dealt with.  Andrew was so determined that I meet her, and invited me over to his house to introduce me to his terribly sick mother.  I felt so bad for her, and told him I did not want to meet her this way.  He insisted and so I came over.  This was the first time JB and I met, and although she was feeling horrible, she was so sweet and lovely!  But, this meant, she would be out for the race.

(NOTE: These pictures are of runs I did in 2011... so this was not me 4 years ago.. they just went with the theme.)

So came the race day of the Capitol 10K in 2007.  This was the first time that Andrew and my dad met, too.  They of course clicked right away!  We all ran it together, and finished the race together.  I cannot remember my exact time (nor can I find it on the internet)... but if I remember correctly, I believe we finished around 1:06:00.  Compare that to my 10K this year (2011) and I have beat my time by 18 minutes!

We had so much fun during this race that we decided as a group this would be the first of many.  This is where my obsession for running began.  That summer, Andrew talked me into training for my first half marathon with him.  We used Hal Higdon's training schedule for novices
(http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/), and ran our first half marathon in Houston at the Luke's Locker/Koala Houston Half in October 2007.  Since then, I have run 9 or 10 half marathons (I have lost count), and I ran my first marathon in January 2011 at the Chevron Houston Marathon.

I'll save my first marathon experience for another post... but next big registered race is The Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th!  I could not be more excited and nervous at the same time...