Happy Halloween!

How you have a wonderful, safe Halloween!

Nike Women's Marathon RACE RECAP!

The start line was a little on the chaotic side and honestly...pretty poorly organized.

But the course itself was BEA-UTIFUL! We had some pretty serious crowding issues where the course bottle necked and it forced everyone to walk. Not cool....not cool at all. 

They made up for it at mile 12 by handing out handfuls of these babies...

The finish line sucked. Period. End of story. They had us go through corrals and get scanned by a high school kid. Basically we were forced to come to a dead stop after running and wait for 8 other ladies to have their bib scanned. It was so crowded you could see any of the amenities, no food, not water, and no med tent in sight. Not cool...not cool at all.

But they made up for it by handing me one of these....

They also made up for it by letting me run with these awesome ladies!!

Me, Audrey (survivor), and Jen (tnt alumni)

They also made up for their lack of organization by letting us rock some serious bling!

I.Love.This.Necklace.

Boom.

San Francisco Part 1

Let me start by saying...I HAD AN AWESOME TIME!!

Great flight, great group of gals, great cause, and a great weekend!

We arrived Friday night and headed to the expo for packet pick up and then straight for a bar! We ended up at this place called Biscuits and Blues and had appetizers, drinks, and listened to a band. Great way to start the trip.

The time change got the best of us and we ended up wide awake by 5am.....rough. 

We decided to head out early to see the sights...

ended up getting there before anything was open. Here I am at Fisherman's Wharf.

While at Fisherman's Wharf.....this lady tried to give us crabs....

We went to Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, and down to Haight and Ashbury. A very fun day!

Stay Tuned for RACE DAY DETAILS!!! 

Leaving On A Jet Plane

It's Here...It's Here....It's FINALLY HERE!

Yup....

I am flying out on Friday to hit up the expo.

Spending Saturday checking out all that San Francisco has to offer and then heading to a TEAM In Training Inspiration dinner with some of the most amazing ladies ever!

Sunday Morning I will put on my purple pride..

AND ROCK THE NIKE WOMEN'S MARATHON! 

13.1....bring it.

My TNT Miracle Moment

When you join up with Team In Training you always hear about miracle moments. How someone hears a song that reminds them of the loved one that they are running for right when they hit the wall and it helps them break through it. Or how someone ends up running next to someone that they had no idea they were connected to until mile 18 and then they stay friends.

Today was my miracle moment. 

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the loss of  my son, Eric. Today is a very difficult day. 

Today was also our graduation run for the Nike Marathon. I will admit that it is very hard to run when your throat is tight from holding back tears. 

I finish my 10 miles and as I am heading to our little party by the lake when Beth, a team-mate, hops out of her car. Beth is 8 months pregnant so she's not training this season but is still a supporter and will be back for another round soon. Beth grabs me and says...

"I know this is going to sound weird, but a week or so ago I woke up at 2am thinking about you. I know that you had lost your son sometime in October and I had this strong feeling that you were going to need something today. So I brought you this"... Beth hands me 3 balloons, stationary, and a pen...she continues.." I thought you could write a little letter to your son and then send it up to him."

I immediately start crying and tell her that today is the anniversary date of our loss.  She helps me write out a little note and connect it to the balloons.  It takes me a good 20 minutes to recover and then Beth's son, Cael, and I released the balloons and note, sending it floating over the lake.