It's all about support

Ok, I know I've said before that I believe support is such a quintessential part when deciding to start a training program for a half marathon.. it’s would be just so easy to throw in the towel and stay under the covers if you didn’t have Felicity and Crystal’s voices in your ear urging you out of bed at 4:45am to make sure you aren’t late for your 5:45am run! Thank you for that ladies.. I mean it!

This all being said where ever you are and whatever you are doing.. the effort must be made to keep the training schedule up, and I’ve been kinda bad at this. So having the long run on a weekend where the goal is to see how much turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie you can fill yourself with, support is even more important. I was home in Sherwood Park this past weekend for Thanksgiving and upon arrival had said to my sister that I HAD to go on my long run while I was here (nothing like handing over that responsibility to someone else so there is someone else to blame if it doesn’t happen .. I know, I know.. this is wrong). With this knowledge, she still offered to join me and even asked her sister-in-law Mary-Jane to join as well. With seven children between them, having to organize childcare, decide on a time and make it all happen seemed like an impossibility but it all came together on Sunday morning.

Now it must be said that my sister has not run in months and Mary-Jane just spent a week in Disneyland with no exercise but walking the parks till they dropped (not easy, but not running either). We weren't exactly the perfect threesome given my current cold in the chest situation.. but we weren’t going to let that stop us. With the route scouted, running clothes on, we headed out for our run surrounded by a scenic route with the amazing fall colours, a perfect running temperature and great company.

We fell into a good pace for all and just ran and talked around the loop with the occasional kilometer update to keep us going. We finished at 6km exactly outside my parents place and were pretty proud of our accomplishment. My sis never thought she’d be able to do it without stopping but we ran the whole way and now she is even considering doing this more often (Leigh-Ann, it’s in print and on the web.. now you HAVE to do it ;). Mary-Jane I have to thank you for the running tips, for coming out to run and for convincing us to go to Timmy’s afterwards! Yay, a sense of accomplishment AND a steeped tea to boot!