How romantic - walking in a half marathon on our wedding anniversary!!! Actually it was really lovely 'cos John has been my personal trainer for months now and it was great having him support me through my very first official event - how's that for teamwork!
We actually spent a whole week in San Antonio due to business commitments for John. During the week I found the local YMCA (another place full of wonderful staff - everyone in Texas is just soooo friendly - but I've said that before once or twice eh!) which enabled us to kee
p our swimming going while away from home. We also browsed through the Mexican markets and bought Blake a large frog (as requested). She bought a smaller one when visiting last year and wants to hang them on the patio in their new home in NZ (they move in next week!!) We also drove down to Corpus Christie for the day on business. Driving back to San Antonio we stumbled across the little town of Poteet (birthplace of country singer George Strait - so very special) and found ourselves in the middle of a football parade driving down the main street. It was amazing - police sirens, fire engine sirens, car sirens, lots of flag waving and young people hanging out of the back of trucks - it was just like the movies! Everyday here brings a new experience.......
p our swimming going while away from home. We also browsed through the Mexican markets and bought Blake a large frog (as requested). She bought a smaller one when visiting last year and wants to hang them on the patio in their new home in NZ (they move in next week!!) We also drove down to Corpus Christie for the day on business. Driving back to San Antonio we stumbled across the little town of Poteet (birthplace of country singer George Strait - so very special) and found ourselves in the middle of a football parade driving down the main street. It was amazing - police sirens, fire engine sirens, car sirens, lots of flag waving and young people hanging out of the back of trucks - it was just like the movies! Everyday here brings a new experience.......We wandered through Hemisfair Park which is full of amazing artwork - sculptures, fountains and gardens and strolled down historic King William Street (sounds familiar!!!) where the homes are just magnificent - some built back in the 1840's.
.................................................................................................................... Friday night we went with Hugh & Donna to the movies to see "Spirit of the Marathon" - very inspiring and uplifting and got us quite excited for the race on Sunday morning. Saturday we attended the Pasta Party at the Westin Hotel (Esther & Jerry Hicks had a seminar in the very next room that afternoon!) We sat at a table with Hugh & Donna, Pat & Sam, Sarah & Gary and Coach Elaine - it was great being in a room full of enthusiastic people and we all had a laugh at the skits performed - but then it was back to the B&B for an early night.......
....Sunday morning we were up bright and early and walked to the nearby bus stop in readiness for the shuttle to take us to the starting line. It was about 34degreesF (1degreeC) so extremely cold. There were literally hundreds of people already at the bus stop and by the time a bus arrived (over an hour after our arrival) there would have been well over a thousand people waiting. In fact 6 buses were filled before we were able to step aboard! We finally made it to the start area - the first runners had already left but as we were in corral 27 (there were 33,000 participants taking part in this event) we still had about 10 minutes to spare before starting. It was soooo cold that I felt like running just to warm up however my personal trainer held me back and we stuck to our usual training program and finished in 3hrs14mins which was a really good time for me - just under the 15min/mile time that I had walked the week before.
.....................It was the Rock 'n Roll Marathon so there were bands all along the course and lots of spectators lining the route encouraging everyone all the way. We finished at the Alamodome and I received my very first medal - yay! This was actually just part of our training program to get me across the line of the Houston Marathon in January - that's double what I just walked - stay tuned for the outcome of that one!!!!!
That night John & I dined in a lovely restaurant on the Riverwalk celebrating our anniversay and then hobbled back to the B&B for another early night to rest my weary bones (well I hobbled 'cos my legs had seized up - of course John was skipping along...) It was a great day and included two huge milestones in our lives - 34yrs of wedded bliss and me actually finishing a half marathon - life really is good!
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