Saturday 15-Miler

Andrea and Ashley

Saturday, March 26 - the 15 miler was on the schedule - time to really psyche ourselves up! Last week was the longest distance any of us had run and now we were going further! YIKES!!

Mirna was going to be away in the Seattle area so that left 4 mamas for the run. Then my daughter ended up having ballet class photos scheduled for that morning - leaving me in quite a quandary (ok, a tizzy!) as to how I was going to get my run in alone. But Ashley stepped up and offered to run later in the morning with me and for that, I can't say how grateful I was! Bethany and Sarah kept on schedule and ran at 7am. When Ashley and I showed up at 10am to do the same route, Bethany was waiting there for us to give us some encouragement. We were so proud of her for having already gone the distance. (I have to say I think both Ashley and I were wishing that we were done too.) But off we went - starting at Shenanigan's in Riverfront Park and heading east on the Centennial Trail. A couple of miles in we received a text message from Sarah, also letting us know that their run went great and to also give us encouragement. I can't say enough about the wonderful support that we get from each other - I couldn't do it without them. On we went and soon after, we received another text - this time from Mirna. We were waiting for this one...Mirna signed up to do a half-marathon so she could also get her run in while out of town and we were waiting to hear the good news - knowing she was going to finish in under 2 hours. We were elated when she shared her time with us (***read her post below!) and it gave Ashley and I yet another shot in the arm to keep on moving!

We went out almost to Argonne, approximately 7.5 miles from Riverfront Park, and turned around to head back. I never dreamed in my life that I would literally run from downtown out to the valley - and then back again. We finished in a little over 2 1/2 hours - the watch shows 2:25:07 but we stopped it a couple of times when we walked - while taking in water or nutrition or just admiring the views along the Spokane River. It was a very nice, sunny morning full of good conversation and friendship and even the added bonus of a lengthy rest stop, oops I mean wait, at Mission Park while a train went by. Woo Hoo - thank you! And THANK YOU ASHLEY - for a wonderful Saturday run!

Here is the watch photo Ashley!

~ posted by Andrea