Two Girls on the Run

Today was a great day for two reasons. First, and most importantly, I ran 3 of my most memorable miles of the year. I had the honor of participating in my second Girls on the Run 5k race as a "buddy runner" to an amazing young woman, Julie Foster. This was our second race, our first being last December on an incredibly cold day. The excitement of Julie's first race, combined with the freezing temperatures, made for an exhilarating race.

Today's race was muggy and the course was very hilly. Most of the race took us around Patriot's Circle at my alma mater of George Mason University. For the life of me I don't recall that circle being so hilly, but then again I was literally half my age when I last ran that circle. Wow, that's a brutal reality check...

Anyway, Julie told me early in the race that she really, really wanted to beat our previous race time from December, which was a little over 41 minutes (quite impressive, in my opinion, for an 8 year old and a slow poke 40 year old). I was so impressed that a 3rd grader had set a goal for herself like this and I was going to do everything I could to help her achieve it.

Despite the temperature and elevation challenges, we gave it everything we had. The race itself is absolutely packed with people as each girl must have a buddy runner and schools from throughout Northern VA participate. Julie and I were in the last pack of runners to start and we spent a good bit of our time and energy just weaving in and out around slower runners and the throngs of people walking (I so wish the course marshals had been calling out for walkers to stay to the right...).

At about mile 2 we came to a point in the course where we had to turn back around and I was amazed to see how many people were behind us. Despite the fact that we were one of the last people to start the race, we had somehow managed to pass hundreds and hundreds of people. Julie and I high-fived each other with excitement. This accomplishment alone really gave us the push we needed.

We power walked a few times for only very brief periods, but I could tell from my watch that we were ahead of our pace from our last race. As we began to round the bend for the finish I knew she would blow her time out of the water. With about 50 yards left, Julie turned on the jets and we blasted across the finish line with an impressive time of 36:45. For her little legs to take her that far and that fast is amazing to me. With her mom (and my dear friend) Kathy, her dad and brother proudly watching on, Julie achieved her goal - and then some. I was so privileged to be a part of it.

Today was also great because this race finally took me to under 300 miles - a big milestone for me! Yes, it is one I should have reached quite a while ago, but I am counting my blessings that it is finally here. I can't think of a better day to break 300 miles - and I will always remember where I was when it happened.

Miles run since last post: 15
Miles run total to date: 68
Miles to go: 297