Hogeye Half

Michelle, Bonnie, Me, and Alisha...This was the morning we hit the 10 mile mark.

So, I ran my first half marathon at the end of March.  I know, right???  I never thought I'd be a runner, and I still probably wouldn't consider myself one, but I can do it.  Not without my girls, though.  I loathe running alone, it is so long, so boring, torturous.  But with friends it can be fun, and it makes you feel great.  After you're done of course.  So, I started working out regularly May of 2014.  I mostly did hot yoga and body pump.  I kind of have to have accountability and a schedule to stick to, so classes (where there is an instructor telling you what to do and an audience who would see if you quit) work great for me.  Our gym is just around the corner so I started going to 5:30 am classes, so I would have it done for the day before anyone in the house was up.  This was a huge deal for me.  I am not a morning person.  But the benefits of feeling better about myself were worth it, so I stuck with it.  Then, I talked my friend Bonnie into coming early and working out with me.  Let's face it, if you're a mama of littles and you wait until the end of the day to do your workout, chances are you just won't have any juice left.  Well, I can't say that I have too much juice in the mornings, but you get moving and it just gets you going.  Anyway, Bonnie joined me in probably October and soon our friend Alisha had talked us into training for the Hogeye.  Bonnie and I met for our short runs on Tuesday and Thursdays at the gym, and then we would all get together for our long runs on the weekends.  That meant getting up at 5, sometimes 4:30, in the morning to get to the trails in Fayetteville where most of our runs took place.  It was a grinding schedule, but it was therapy.  Really.  How often do you have an uninterrupted 30 minute- 2 hour time frame to chat with your girlfriends? Well, I had it 3 times a week for 4 months.  Sometimes Michelle would join us, and I truly enjoyed getting to know her.  We saw all kinds of weird things on those early morning runs.  One morning Alisha and I were running at Lake Fayetteville, and we saw 2 deer eating up ahead near the trail.  We turned a corner and lost sight of them, and when we curved back around they were still there.  One was eating like right by the trail, and the other seemed to be the lookout and had its eyes on us the whole time.  I thought for sure they would run, but the one kept eating and the other kept watching.  I turned my music down, and whispered to Alisha, "surely they're gonna move."  Then we got so close I thought OHMYGOSH what if they attack us?  I could see them up on their hind legs pawing us to death.  But they never moved.  We ran right by.  We were so close we could have reached out and touched one of them.  Heck, we could have jumped on it and gone for a ride.  It was wild and so cool.  We also saw a fox one morning, bunnies, and plenty of suspicious persons...but Michelle always carried her mace!

You run 12 miles, you get Rick's for breakfast.  This morning Bonnie's IT band was bothering her, and she wasn't sure she would make the long distance.  So Alisha (our leader, trailmapper, coach, and drill sargent) split up our run into 2 parts.  The first 8 were on the trail, and the last 4 would be on campus if Bonnie was feeling up to it.  Well, she was, and then Alisha almost killed us.  Tackling the hills on campus...not easy on 8 mile legs (thankfully the big hills came at the beginning on race day).  But I didn't quit that day.  The only hill that ever defeated me was on Sang Avenue.  That was one morning with just Alisha and me.  We ran up towards a light that I thought was the top, but when we got there I realized it was mayyybe only halfway up.  It just kept going.  I said, "Alisha, I've got to walk."  She LATER tells me she tried all through college to tackle that hill and never made it up all the way.  Thanks alot!

Race day at the starting line

Actually running the race was fun to me.  The energy is crazy, and there's so much more to see when you're not running in the dark. ;)  It was very crowded when we first started, and I didn't like that.  But it cleared out pretty quickly.  There was a very loud guy near us in the beginning, and he was cracking me up.  We were running up the hill on Maple Street and he was yelling stuff out. I'll never forget him yelling, "I eat hills like this for breakfast.  Put some syrup on it.  UMMM!"  He was crazy.  He quieted down though when we hit the hill past the stadium...if you've ever been to the Uof A campus, you know it's not joke why it's called The Hill.  I felt pretty good the whole race...it always takes a little bit to get going and miles 10-13 were the hardest, but we were on a familiar stretch of trail at the end so it kind of felt like home.  One of the last water stations was in memory of a fallen veteran, and they had a big picture of him, and I got all emotional.  I teared up as I neared the finish line because it was sinking in what I had done and all I had trained for.  It was a journey to say the least, and so special to share it with such special ladies.  We were actually right up on the finish line before I realized it was almost over, I was like, "oh, that's it!"  Bonnie had gone mute about halfway through.  We kept asking if she was ok, but she wouldn't say, but when we hit the home stretch she sprinted, I mean sprinted to the end.  It was such a special moment of accomplishment.  A few songs I remember that played at just the right time were Uptown Funk and Turn Down For What.  Ha!  Then towards the end I switched it over to KLOVE, and I specifically remember Holy Spirit You are Welcome Here.  Yes, we needed You!

A few of our sweet friends showed up along the way...Alex at mile 4 or so, Sara at about 6, and Nellie and Shari at 8.  It was a much needed boost to have their encouragement.

Crossing the finish line

We did it!

Click here for Bonnie's version of the story.  I'm so glad we did it!  I'm pretty sure during the race it was said, "I'm never doing this again."  But after you're done you start talking about the next one.