Wow!  I can't believe my second half is almost here! How exciting!  It's THIS SATURDAY, June 12th.  My son will be running with me so it will be DOUBLE FUN!  Woohoo!  My daughter will be doing the 5K so she will be at the finish line waiting on us.  I am a little nervous but not as much as my first one.  I've got the mental part down pat!  I know I can do it because I have done it before.  I just have to remember to take it slow in the beginning.  It is so tempting to want to run with everyone else even though they are skinnier, younger, and faster!!!  Ha!  But I know my limits and all I want to do is finish standing up!  I do hope to PR but if I don't, it won't hurt my feelings.  Just to be able to do it at all is a great acomplishment for me.!!  It will be a special moment when my son and I cross the finish line and when my daughter meets us there.  

I am so proud of my children.  I put them through so much when I was drinking and drugging.  I am so blessed for them to have growh into caring, responsible adults.  I praise God for ALL my blessings and there are many! 

I have started my checklist of things to take with me.  I always have this fear of forgetting something....like running shoes maybe...he he... Lord help me if that every happened.  I did my spin class this morning and got a twinge of "something" in my calf, the same one that I tore the calf muscle in last year.  Oh no!   So I am going to take it slow this week.  I was going to do my usual workout routine for the week but have decided against it.  I may do some walking with friends. Or if I run I will only do a mile or so.  Just something to keep my legs loose but not enought to cause an injury. 

This race course has some rolling hills so it is going to be tough but I can do it!  And the medal is beautiful, as is the T-shirt.  I can't wait to get mine.  Also they are giving away $1,000 to five lucky people.  The race starts at 6 am.  The drawing will be at 10 and you have to be present to win so I told my son we would have to be finished by 10 so I could collect my money.....ha ha ....!! 

I know we will have great fun and I am so excited.  I just hope I don't get lazy like I did after my last half. But then again, I probably won't because Galloway training for the St. Jude Half is starting up soon and I am doing that one again too.   No rest for the weary! 

On an awesome, awesome note......I have recruited another lady to run.  And she might be my speed.  Yippee!  I am so excited.  I need another penguin to waddle run along beside me.  :)  Plus I LOVE encouraging people.  When she asked me about the program I think I talked for an hour straight about it.  But I know that if I can do it-anyone can.  They just need a little encouragement like I did.  After being a cough potato ALL my life, it is hard to explain the feeling I have when I run.  Every time I run I am doing something I NEVER THOUGHT I COULD DO!  That feeling of acomplishment is glorious......mind boggling....almost too good to be true-so I pinch myself sometimes. he he....  God is so good.  When I called to him he answered me and he rescued me from my life of bondage to drugs and alcohol.  Little did I know that 18 years later I would be competing in my second half marathon.  On the season of The Biggest Loser when they did the very first marathon I cried and cried when they crossed the finish line because I was in training for my first half at that time.  I recorded the episode and played it over and over.  It gave me great encouragement and the courage that I, too, could finish and finish strong.  And that is just what I did. 

I am still amazed sometimes at how my life has turned out. And it's not over yet!  Praise God! 

Half marathon registration panic attack - aka registration foul-up!

Ok...I signed up for the Renaissance Half Marathon in June of this year.....or so I thought!  I signed up "by mail" which means I signed up online and printed out a confirmation sheet to send it with my check.  After checking the website several times I never saw my name on there.  So I emailed them. I had assumed they were waiting for my check to clear.  Glad I contacted them!!  They had not received my check and after emailing back and forth they realized that the wrong addess was listed on their website to send my check too.  WHAT???? So where was my check???  I panicked!!!  I called my son, whining and almost crying (he and his wife are signed up to run it with me).  I knew he could dispel my fears.  Well, I had several choices - none of which sounded good to me:

1. I could wait for my check to return to me (and who knows when that would be) and resend it to the right address.
2. I could go ahead and send another check and cancel that check at the cost of $30.00! 
3. I could re-signup on line and pretend I never wrote the check and hope whoever receives it throws it away because they could care less if it got to where it was going anyway. 

Decisions, decisions!  After talking to my son and my husband I decided to wait on my check to return in the mail - for a little while anyway.  They are only 2,000 allowed to run so I have been checking the website daily and counting the number of people who have signed up.  If it gets close and I still have not recieved my check back in the mail, I will just have to sign up again. 

The best part about all of this - if there is one - is that the gentleman I had been corresponding with was extremely nice and asured me I would get to run.  He even said he would honor my early registration fee that my original check was written for.  Now that is cool!

I remember getting returned mail one time and it took three months from the date I mailed it to return to me.  Can't wait that long this time.  And I hate waiting anyway!  But wait I will..for a few more days. 

When I finally calmed down, I realized that this is not such an aweful thing.  The worst that could happen is that I don't get to run but  I don't see that happening.  In retrospect, I think next time I will sign up online ASAP.  I don't recall this ever happening when snail mail was all we had...but then again, I didn't run back then either.  Life is still good and I am learning patience....I think! 

MAKE it a great day friends.