The Azalea Trail Run...

I hope you all are having a great weekend. Mine has been so nice and a much needed break. I have gotten to spend a lot of time with my family and Brett. That has been good because we do not get to see each other much during the week. Last night, we relaxed and did homework. The homework part wasn't awesome but...we were able to spend time together and for me, I don't really care what we do as long as we are together.

Now...let me share with you a decision I made just 26 days ago. I decided that I wanted to run the Azalea Trail 10k race that happens in Mobile every year. I have never run an actual race...other than the fun run for the Azalea Trail when I was younger...but I wanted to do it. I wanted to do the 10k even though they were having a 5k as well this year. I didn't inform the blogging world about this decision because basically, I figured I'd back out. haha. My pride wouldn't be able to take breaking the news that I quit. Just another reminder of my sin and how prideful I am. Anyways, I have been training for the past 20 something days and although I run pretty consistently...I was forced to start running longer runs. Training had been going good. My endurance wasn't too bad but my legs have been sore throughout the process.

Fast forward to this morning. I woke up around 6 am...immediately thought, "what a terrible idea this was" haha. Just kidding....but seriously, it was early. We headed downtown and began warming up. Jeff, Amy, and I were the ones who ran today. Amy and I stretched and took a short jog around the block. My shins began to throb and I thought...."ahh...not today." We got back and were about to go line up to start. I was thinking it was going to be a rough run. Brett came up behind me and said a quick prayer for me and my shins. :) I started getting nervous as we lined up and finally...the gun was fired and we were off.

It was such a great run. My shins really did not hurt at all and I was pushing myself the whole time. I felt great. It was tough...don't get me wrong...but I did pretty well. Bottom line...I finished and I loved it. I want to run more races for sure. I completed the 6.2 miles in just about an hour..maybe like a minute or a minute and a half after an hour. I was going for under an hour but I felt like I really pushed myself so I can't complain!

Here are a few pictures from the day....

My sweet sister who ran with me the whole time...even though she

probably could have smoked me! :)

The three racers...

My face pretty much tells how I was feeling before we started. :)

Jeff finishing wayyy earlier than us. What a stud. 46 minutes. Baller.

Never has a finish line looked so sweet....

Sweaty. Hot. Happy to be done and have finished!

As for the rest of the day.....Spot of Tea for breakfast, back home for a shower, a three hour nap (me on one couch...Brett on the other...haha), and a relaxing day. It was the perfect Saturday. I hope yours was just as good!

Enjoy your Sabbath tomorrow!