The Bridge Run and Palm Sunday

So, I got a wild hair last November and decided to start running. I made the mistake of asking my Dad if he would run a half marathon and unfortunately he hasn't forgotten! We decided that our first challenge would be the Cooper River Bridge run. To most this seems like no big deal, but to me, who literally struggled to run for 1 minute straight when I started, it was a VERY big deal. I also suckered Joey, Berny, and Wendy into running it with us. Mom got the honor of staying home with Maya- thanks mom! Joey, Maya, and I headed down late Thursday night, thankfully Maya cooperated and slept pretty much the entire way there, and Berny and Wendy met us at Mom and Dad's on Friday. We went into Charleston to pick up our packets that morning and then walked around for a while and ate lunch at one of my all time favorite spots, Groucho's. The whole experience was exciting to me, I have never done anything even close to this! So, race day came and we headed to the church very early, around 05:30, to get a parking spot so that we could have access to the church. It was freezing that morning and I keep seeing people walk around in garbage bags which I found pretty comical at first then, I began to understand the point and could have really used one! We were very lucky to be able to sit inside the church and wait for the race to start. We also met Trudy and two of her friends, Adrienne, Colin, Ashly, Joey and some more of there friends and they came into the church as well to stay warm. Just before the race started we decided that it was time to brave the cold and headed out to our spots. If you haven't done the bridge run, it is a very entertaining experience, we saw spider man, all the wizard of oz characters, men in dresses, and so much more. It actually provides very good people watching. Maybe next year, I'll sit out the race and just go for the people watching! So as soon as the race started Joey left us all in the dust and my dad and I got a little ahead of Berny and Wendy. So, Dad and I hung together until the very end. Once he saw the finish line he took off and neglected to tell me that we were racing, that's ok he only beat me by a few seconds despite all the effort. But, next year its on! My goal was to finish in 1 hr 15 mins and I finished in 1 hr 14 mins and some seconds. Not too bad for my first ever race. We all had a great time and we all finished and made it home in one piece. Berny and Wendy left afternoon grabbing some lunch with us. And, after grabbing a nap, Joey and I headed over to the condo that Ashley, her Joey, Adrienne, Colin, and some of their firefighter buddies had rented for a pizza dinner and a little corn hole. We had a great time hanging out, but it was nice to head home to Mom and Dad's quite house for the night. Firefighters can make A LOT of noise!

The next day was Palm Sunday and I was so happy to be able to spend it with my parents. I had to work Easter Sunday, so we went ahead and got Maya dressed up in her Easter dress. Her dress was really special this year, because it was one that my mom had made for me when I was little. It is white and has smoking around the neck. I just love it! Because it was a little cool that day, Maya also wore very special light pink sweater over the dress. The sweater was made by my Great Aunt, Maya's Great Great Aunt Joyce Hunter. She looked so pretty in her Easter dress and sweater and the story behind them both just made it even better. After Church at Hibben UMC they had a cover dish lunch, so of course we had to go and let Mom and Dad show Maya off. They were also having an Easter egg hunt after lunch. So, before all the kids went out, we snuck outside for a couple of photo ops with Maya. As soon as we put her down, she went straight for the eggs- off course she really only had to reach out in front of her because the eggs had just been thrown all over the grass, but still cute. After the photo ops we headed back to my parents to pack the car and dogs and then headed back home.

It was an absolutely wonderful weekend! We had a great time with family and friends, and I had a successful first run. Now, if my dad would only forget about this half marathon stuff we would be good to go!!