On Sunday, two of the greatest motivators in my life motivated me through 5 km of glory. But first, a background story.
In March, I decided that I needed to get into shape. For the first time in my life I was going to start running. So, I went to the most athletic person I know (Breanna) and asked her if she would run with me. Breanna, being a runner, accepted right away and the Couch to 5 km Program began. At first, it wasn't so bad. A couple minutes of running followed by a couple minutes of walking. I thought this isn't gonna be so bad. After a few week and a bit of peer pressure we got Katie to join us and the Lew Crew running group was formed. Three nights a week, after our babies were in bed, the three of us completed our running program 30 minutes at a time. With Breanna leading, Katie and I blindly followed putting our trust in our friend who had done this before and hoping that we didn't pass out in the middle of the neighbourhood. We did each of the 9 week program with success and never regretted what we had started. Although, there was plenty of complaining along the way. Breanna moved to LA once the program was finished and it was mine and Katie's goal to continue running through the summer. We would try and whimp out but remembered our friend who moved to sunny California and knew she would be proud that we continued on here while she ran along beautiful ocean front views. (We would silently curse her for having a much better view than us) Then the slumps came. I didn't want to go, and bless Katie's slave driver heart, we went. She would show up at my house and I knew that was it. I had to go. Couldn't let Kate down. After a month of running without Breanna; Katie and Breanna thought it would be a great idea to end our summer running program in a 5 km race while Breanna was in town in September. Thus, the Heart Run idea was born. Katie (who I have affectionately enlisted as my running manager) sent me the information and I literally blindly signed up for the race.
What a race! Katie and I ran that race harder than we have ever run. (I say Katie and I as we kind of run together now and have really weird quirks. Like, I can only run on Katie's left side and we breath in sync like we are in labour. Drive Breanna crazy!) The hills were something we had never experienced before, passing people was a new concept, and they ran out of water at our half way point. But we didn't care. We were doing it! Our goal was complete and we were doing probably our last run on the season. All things considered we finished in 36 min 23 secs. Success! Considering we had never run the River Valley before I say Hooray!
So a big thank you goes out to my running girls. Lew Crew. Breanna thanks for inspiring me to run and telling me that I "look like a runner." For telling me that I could do it. Katie thanks for keeping me going. Helping through the rough patches and dragging my butt out there every week. I honestly thought that this was something that I never ever would have accomplished in my life and I have you two girls to thank for it!
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| The Team, Garry, Katie, Me, Breanna, and Brenda |
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| Leah trying to run away from her smelly mom after the race. |
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| Katie and I seconds before we crossed the finish line. And some other random person. |
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| Breanna seconds before she finished. Her running shot was much better than ours. |
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| Success 6 months in the making! |
