I wrote this a long time ago and it's been sitting here as a draft for forever.  I may finish it eventually...but for now i feel like I should just post it as-is.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So, since my last post...I've actually done a few events.  Since most of them were too long ago to write a real race report, I'll just put a quick synopsis in one large post.

AT&T Austin Marathon (2/17) - My first marathon evar!!  OMG, this was an amazing race.  The weather was supposed to be rainy and super windy, but it ended up being beautiful.  I don't know if it was the course that seemed to block the wind or if it just wasn't windy that day, but we didn't seem to have too much trouble there. The hills were supposed to be only from mile 9-12, but Holy Crap it seemed like they never ended!!  I got a bit disheartened when I saw that I was in Z4 basically the whole race, and complained to Connie a bunch (I'm so sorry Connie) but she kept my spirits up most of the time.  Mike and Richard were amazing, out on the course every few miles...almost where I thought I'd just seen them.  (They missed us a couple times early on, but after I called them from the porta-potty stop at mile 7 that never happened again).  Around mile 20, when I was feeling the worst, I decided to try to ham it up for a photographer.  Then I looked closer and realized it was Julia!! (She told me earlier that morning she would be wearing a colorful wool hat...I can't believe she was still wearing it that late in the day!)  Getting to see someone I didn't fully expect to see and her cheering kept me on kept me on a high for the next few miles.  I got to see everyone I wanted to see: ran into
rheller
 before the race even started (he said he recognized my voice...I'm so loud!) and ran across Alyssa running in her pink skirt :)  I saw Julia again, hanging with CJ (which was super awesome, I hadn't seen him since Vegas of last year!)  They both had their cameras out and were busy snapping up pics.   After the race, I just went home and napped while Mike took care of everything in the house...then went over to Ayer's to visit with my lovely goddaughter (and her wonderful parents of course) for a bit.  I limped around there for a bit, drinking their liquor and eating sooo well.  The next night was a celebratory dinner at Buca Di Beppo with a ton of people...so they sat us in the Pope room.  Sooo much fun!!!  Back to race details, Connie and I both made our goal of beating the 5 hour mark...just barely.  We passed the 5:00 pacers just as we were getting to the last quarter mile (to Julia and Mike's surprise)

Shamrock Half Marathon( 3/16) - Connie and I drove down to VA Beach the day before the race, and barely made it in time before the race expo closed.  Luckily, they still had a few shirts in our size, and I also bought myself a bracelet I wanted but didn't want to buy until I had finished my first marathon.  Then we went to dinner with Kathi and fretted about the weather reports.  All the ones we saw were forecasting a storm with crazy winds.  Again, we lucked out...it wasn't the prettiest of days, but it didn't even really rain on us at all, and warmed up quite a bit although the winds were insane!!  We might even have PRed if I hadn't had to stop to use a porta-potty (a recurring theme for me at races) and then sorta lost track of Kathi and Connie.  We still did well, and came in under 2:30.  Connie and Kathi both left me in their dust during the sprint to the finish, with Kathi running at least a 6:30 pace and Connie holding strong around 7:00.

One Day Hike 50k (4/26) - The training for this was brutal.  20 miles of walking is WAY harder than 26 miles of running.  This definitely made me rethink my ability to walk the marathon at the end of an IronMan.  That day, we made it to the check in on time and then decided to drive to the nearest town and wait for Hien, John and Lap (the crazies who signed up for the 100k) to get to the halfway point so we could meet up with them.

[Unknown LJ tag]