San Antonio Half: Week 12

Distance: 10.01 miles
Time: 1hr 57 mins 41 secs
Route: Clyde Fant Parkway Trail

I know I've been bad about blogging these things. I find that when I run by myself, a lot of the time, it's really not all that exciting. Last week, I posted a pic of the sunrise that I saw at my turn around point, so that was a little exciting because it was so beautiful. God's creations never cease to amaze me. I'm sure that most of you have realized by this point in time that our family doesn't attend church. Mark and I were both raised Catholic; we were married in the church and even had Gavin baptized Catholic as an infant. However, over the years, we have grown to be more spiritual than religious. I think I still feel a stronger connection to the Catholic faith than Mark does, but we made the decision to abstain from church. We have taught the kids about God and about how this world is so much bigger than us. Lauren attends preschool at the First United Methodist Church in Bossier City, so she attends chapel once a week and learns the bible stories. We want them to have the foundation to be able to make the choice when they get older. What does this have to with Sunday runs? Everything. I chose Sundays for my long run days on purpose. I use these runs in place of church. When I run solo on these days, I am able to clear my head and check in with the Big Kahuna. My life is so hectic, that these chats and this time that is carved out is able to bring a small slice of peace. Even if it's just for a couple of hours, it's still more than nothing.

Anyhoo, the run today was great. Jenn was back in town, so we finally got to run together again. She injured her knee a few weeks back, and I made the decision last night to go with her flow today. If she needed to walk, I'd walk with her. If she needed to run, I'd run. I wanted to be her cheerleader and just help get her mind back in the game. She's worked too long and too hard to quit now. It's not about time...it's about finishing. I'll worry about time later...just not today. We started off with two dogs chasing us for a few minutes. That's one way to get the blood pumping! Once we lost them, I asked how her knee was and she said it was all right. The weather was beautiful and is was so nice to catch up with her! We took a walk break around 3 miles and then again at our turn around.

At mile 7.63, her knee got the best of her. She told me to run ahead and I told her no. Some arguing and empty threats ensured (mostly on my part) and I decided to respect her wishes. At mile 8, I started running. Only 2 miles left, so I decided that I'd finish and then turn around, meet back up with her and finish up with her. To my surprise, when I finished, she was pretty much right behind me! She had stretched her knee, did some speed walking and then finished strong by running. We only had about a 3.5 minute difference in time! I chugged some Gu Brew (thank you for the recommendation, Sparky!) and headed over to the base track.

I received the October newsletter in the mail the other day for RnR San Antonio. I noticed that they have a special kids race...Kids Rock San Antonio. It is held at the SA Zoo and is the day before the big races. The kids run one mile and run in their grade category. Kindergartners can do it too, but it's only 1/2 mile. I showed it to Mark and we decided to see if Gavin had any interest in doing it. We did NOT push him. He decided that he wanted to do it. We told him that we would not be able to run with him, but that we would be watching and cheering him on and then would meet him at the finish. He gets a race bib, a medal, a t-shirt and free entry to the SA Zoo. He was so excited that he told us that he wanted to go to the base track and run some laps. We thought it was a pretty good idea, seeing as he wasn't really sure how long a mile was.

We met at the base track after my long run. I figured I could walk and stretch the legs a bit. Gav and Mark ran a mile and a half and Lauren and I poked around for about a mile. I was so proud of those little monkeys! :)

Week 12 is done and in the books. 5 weeks left until San Antonio. Getting more and more excited for it.