Bearathon 2016

For the past 12 weeks I have been training to do another Half Marathon, my first since having Polly. My friend and co-worker, Alaina has trained and run the Waco Bearathon the past 2 years in memory of her cousin who died suddenly right before the finish line of this race in 2013. She asked me to train with her and do the race with her and I couldn't say no!  I needed a training program to get these last few pounds of baby weight off and I was also inspired by the story of her cousin and his legacy.  So, we did it.  We trained hard for the race named "toughest half in Texas" because of all the hills.  I was a little intimidated after looking at the elevation map, especially since the Cowtown Marathon was hilly and hard and the Bearathon is harder.  I trusted our training and we gave it all we could.  Chris and the big girls joined me and we went down to Waco Friday. Polly st5yed with Mamaw and Pa. We went early so we would have time to visit the Waco Mammoth National Monument and swim at our hotel.  We drove the half marathon course and I got a sneak peek at the never ending hills we would be running in Cameron Park. I knew this was going to be a tough race.  I was up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday and the temperature had dropped to 40 degrees with strong winds.  I ate a quick breakfast and Alaina picked me up and we headed to McClane Stadium where the race started.  It was freezing! We started off strong and never lost it.  The hills were grueling but we just kept pushing.  We ran  much faster than we thought we would taking into consideration the 4 miles in the middle of nonstop steep hills.  We felt good the whole run and finished smiling and strong.  It felt great! We honored Daniel's memory and never gave up.  I was so glad that I could do this race with her.  Tears were streaming down her face as we crossed the finish line and they held up a banner for her to cross that said "In memory of Daniel Jones". Such a cool experience, and we were so grateful to have trained hard and finished strong together.  I was also so happy to have Chris and the girls cheering me on across the finish line.  When Ryan spotted me and watched me run through the banner with Alaina Chris said she screamed "she won!" My sweet girls were so cold, but they were happy for me.  We hit the hot tub at the hotel to warm up and then stopped for burgers, fries and ice cream before we headed home to get our PJ.  It was an awesome experience and I want to do this race again.  It was a huge accomplishment and Chris says he wants to try to do it too! So, Bearathon- we will be back!

Copy and paste this link to your browser to watch the news story about the Bearathon and Daniel Jones:

http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/Family-remembers-former-Baylor-student-at-2016-Bearathon-372821111.html?clmob=y&c=n&clmob=y&c=n

It was fun learning about mammoths!

A mammoth femur is ass big as the girls!

Ryan stubbed her toe and was crying so Emma held her hand to make her feel better.

Carb loading the night before the race!

Finished!

So proud of Alaina
She said this was her best race and her best time!

Smiling even though she was freezing!

Waking up at 7 sucks!

The hills from 5 to 10 miles were insane!!!!!

Polly playing at Mamaw's house!