it's nice to have friends that are crazy too.

i do believe this all started way back in june when a certain someone said
'i think you should run a half marathon with me'
to which i replied 'if there's free food - i'm in. duh.'

and the the immediate registration commenced.
somewhere along the way we picked up two more suckers, as well.
and that is how we started spending two to three evenings a week and saturday mornings together for days and months and years on end.
there was a lot of water consumed on front lawns and some parking lots, a lot of aggression taken out on the pavement, a few dogs got a stick shook at 'em, a TON of spitting (that one's all me, for the record ;) and entirely to much laughter and occasional dancing to be running.
not a one of us wanted to meet up at 5am on saturday mornings, but we did. and after we'd knock out 10miles before 7am - you couldn't bring us off of cloud nine if you wanted.


this is the only pic of the four of us on race day. together we don't even make up a whole healthy person {see: one foot, no knees, and one lung} and yet i wouldn't have wanted to do so much work with any other girls. they kicked my tail when i needed it and refused to let me back out when i got burned out.
it's probably the INSANE amount of group texting that kept us all going. all day. every day.

little known fact about me {actually well known, if you've known me for any length of time} - i hate running.
i was that whiny girl in high school who always got out of running around the track due to this, that or the other. i threw shot-put for crying out loud - just so i wouldn't have to run.
running has always been so hard for me, but it wasn't until this year that i found out why.
there were many days when we were training that i would be the last one in, even some days when i refused to run, knowing full well my lungs couldn't handle it. but all it would take would be one good run to get my game back together.

race day was no different. lungs felt great, weather was great, i did everything exactly as i did on my usual early morning runs, ate all the same foods, etc.
we were doing AWESOME, keeping our pace consistent and generally having a great time - even on the hills! hills are stupid. ps. 

and then came mile 5.
where i promptly puked my guts up.
i have no idea if it was from mistakenly drinking gatorade instead of water at one of the stations or  nerves or if i sucked in too much out of my inhaler, but i'd been pushing it down for two miles and couldn't take it any longer.
i seriously debated calling it quits. the girls were already ahead of me. i wasn't far from the start/finish line, i could just walk back. i was totes over it and just wanted to lie down.
but i had a 'come to Jesus meeting' with myself and said 'self - quit being a tit.'
i walked it out and eventually got back to where i could run, but could tell i was pretty much the definition of dehydration.
we had ran the route of the race so many mornings, that i knew exactly how much longer it would take for me to get to 'x' spot and just kept that going in my head.
eventually i finished.
not in the time i had anticipated or wanted, but i finished.
and promptly collapsed on the ground. and i'm pretty sure i blacked out a little.
it was awesome. sike.

tutu went to eat chinese for lunch and when i picked her up later that afternoon, she said 'oh mom, i got you a fortune cookie...'
i opened the package and these words of wisdom were inside.
needless to say, the bug hit me all over again.
i think i may get it in a tattoo.
here's to the next one. and not puking. and friends who are half crazy, too.

xoxo.
-a.