To set this post up, I have to share how I got into running. Last October I went to a Ladies Retreat with my mom and ladies from her church. One of the ladies was telling all of us how she loves to run but doesn't have a running partner anymore and my mom turned to me and said" Oh Sissy you could run with Heidi. It would be fun. Oh Heidi ,Joanna would love to run with you." Now I need to explain I had never dabbled in running. I loved a good , brisk power walk to stay in shape, but that was as far as I went. However, 2 days later I was hitting the trail with Heidi, huffing and puffing. When my friend Marjorie in our church heard I was running, she called me up in February and asked if I wanted to run in a 10 k race with her. I said yes, and began training in earnest. We were feeling a little nervous arriving at our first real race, and here we are with all 300+ of our fellow runners awaiting the start signal.
And we are off. Marjorie and I are somewhere in the middle of the pack. The race took place at the St. John airport on the runway in between scheduled flights. Ryan and the girls had to watch from one of the hangers as only the racers were allowed past that point.
Poor Marjorie and I quickly realized we were way our of our league, but we bravely trotted on. It is a little intimidating being passed by a hundred runners or so and remain confident in your own racing/running skills!!
So here Marj and I are finishing our first 5 k (I'm in the pink t-shirt)to the left of the green inflatable starting gate. We had 5 k runners running with us and they got to finish at this point. It was a little sad having to run by the gate knowing we had to do the course all over again, but Ryan and the girls were cheering us on so loud and happily it gave us the encouragement we needed to run up the hill and around the track again.
Here we are approaching the finish line!! We were so excited to be done.
Our goal was to run the race in a hour and we were sooo excited to see the clock at 59 minutes as we ran over the line!!
Here I am almost there!! The clock was a little fast as it was started at the beginning of the race. We were all wearing electronic ankle bracelets (scarey!!) that started and recorded our own personal time when we as an individual ran across the strip laid on the ground at the gate .
Heading to get our medals....
Ta da!!
Lining up for our water and bananas!!
I was welcomed by a happy little family of fans and a proud husband!!
We did it!! We came in 92nd and 93rd place out of 123!! and 13th and 14th out of 20 for our category.. So definitely not setting any records but we did beat our goal!!
We had a big weekend planned as our Ashley was graduating from her 1 year program at N.B.B.I. the next day. Since we were going to be in St John for the race, Ryan and I decided that we would "splurge" , get a hotel room for the night, and head to the graduation the next day. Well our 2 youngest have never been in a hotel before and our 2 oldest have but were so young they don't remember. So you can imagine the excitement as we got all packed and ready to go. However as we pulled into the parking lot and the girls gazed at this 12+ stories high ,brick structure in the middle of a parking lot, they got nervous. Elle shuddered and said"I don't know if I want to stay here Daddy" and Eva chimed in"me neither!" Once we arrived in our room and got all settled in they were squirming with excitement!! ( We did peek in at the pool on the way by and let them help with the elevator buttons!)
After a late night swim and shower they all got snuggled down under the covers. It didn't take too long for them to nod off!
This turkey took a little longer to drift off as she was in bed with Ryan and me. She was soooooo excited to sleep with us!!
Em decided not to sleep up with her sisters and they made it work just fine!
We had fun baby nephew holding during the grad ceremony! This little guy fell asleep on Ryan!
