2 hours and 7 minutes.
That’s how long it takes to bake 15 dozen chocolate chip cookies in my house. (and about half that time to eat them)
From our house that’s a train to London and back.
There’s just enough time there to log on to lds.org and stream a session of General Conference.
Or you could spend that amount of time doing house work on Saturday and have the whole rest of the day to PLAY!!
Sometimes it takes me that long just to write a blog post because it’s usually past my bedtime and I can’t seem to think through the fog in my tired brain. (Believe it or not, that’s not the case right now. It’s actually only 8:49PM, so I’m good for another 2 hours and 7 minutes.)
For me, 2 hours and 7 minutes is a time that has marked me for the rest of my life. It represents, of course, the time it took me to run my very first half marathon (yes, I’m proud of myself and I’m actually giving myself a pat on my back right now . . . ).
Meet my team. It’s their fault I signed up for this thing in the first place. Well, I guess I encouraged them by advertising my New Year’s resolution to run a half marathon.
Here’s my other team. Though they didn’t run the race with me, they supported me all the way through my training and to the finish line. Lyana especially supported me and made sure there was time every Saturday for my long runs so I’d be ready on race day.
Just moments before the horn.
Sadly, no pictures during the run. Probably a good thing, though. You wouldn’t have wanted to see me huffing and puffing along like a tired out steam train. The hills were especially grueling. There were three very steep hills: one at 2 miles, one at 8 miles and the steepest one at 12 miles!! I decided that somehow the entire race was uphill, which is confusing because the course went in a loop. There were times I wasn’t sure I would make it. I didn’t train for mountain running. What got me through? 1) knowing my family was waiting for me at the finish line. 2) the water stations. Never did water taste so good. 3) those sweets they gave out at the water stations. Mmmm, pure sugar. Oh, and 4) my ego. There was no way I was going to go home and say I almost finished my first half marathon.
So while I was out there wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into, Lyana was back with the kids at the finish line waiting and waiting and waiting. Trying to entertain children for 2 hours and 7 minutes (yup, I just worked that in again) is not an easy thing. Luckily they marshals recruited Alex so at least he was occupied. I hope he didn’t guide any runners astray. He’s actually pointing that arrow the wrong way in this picture.
That yellow vest was perfect. As I crested the last little hill, Alex was easy to spot. He ran up to meet me and he and I ran the remainder of the race together.
Only a few yards to go . . . you can do it Alex!
Finito!!
After we all finished, all we could think about was FOOD!! That might explain our attempts to eat the MEDALS which unfortunately were not made of chocolate.
That day I said I would have to really consider whether or not I would ever want to run a half marathon again. After all, it’s not like I’m addicted to running.
Rob
PS Three of us just signed up for the “Great Fjord Run” in Norway on September 6th. It’s a half marathon. Let me know if you want to come.
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