Monster Dash

I have been waiting 10 long weeks to make this post. I am glad to say I have good news to report. The Monster Dash was a huge success! Here we are before the race began. I was nervous beyond belief at this point. My knee has been giving me trouble the last few weeks of training and I was hoping and praying that it would hold out long enough for me to make it through the race.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL and running around downtown Chicago over bridges, around the lake, and through the parks was an amazing sight. All the costumes were so fun to see as well. This was for sure the best race to run in for my first 1/2 marathon.

There were moments that I really began to doubt if I was going to be able to finish but thank goodness to a dear friend and my husband who literally ran by my side the entire time giving me words of encouragement helped me cross that finish line. They both could have gone much faster without me but we stayed together and I can never thank them enough for the support they gave me.

The last mile was for sure the most difficult. Lots of people were walking and every part of my body was telling me to STOP. I dug deep and gave everything I had to literally just put one foot in front of the other.

I don't know how many moments in my life will ever compare to crossing that finish line. I was emotional holding the hands of my support crew as we crossed the finish line together. Once we crossed, I cried and then promptly found myself a patch of grass to sit on while I tried to regain some strength. Here we are with the other families from our ward that came and did the race as well. Everyone did a great job and it was fun to share the experience with friends.

These mementos of our race day will be something I will treasure forever. I owe a big thank you to my in-laws who took the kids for us so that we could go do this race together. A big thank you to my dear friend who stuck by me through all of our training and the race. She was willing to sacrifice her own better time to stay by me and show me the ropes along the way and I will forever be grateful to her. A big thanks to my hubby for encouraging me to do hard things and for believing in me when I did not believe in myself. Last, a thanks to my Dad who has lovingly called and emailed throughout my training checking in and making me feel proud of myself!

While this was my first, I am pretty sure it won't be my last. The aches and pains are a good reminder to me of what I just accomplished. It was just a little over a year ago that I ran my first 5k and here I am 12 months later with a 1/2 marathon under my belt! So let this be a reminder out there to anyone who may be reading this that YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS!