For the Record

 Sometimes I use my blog as a memory jogger.  So I can't let this year go by without documenting this event.  From the beginning of the year list where I asked the question:

So what would I do in 2016 if I could do anything I wanted?

One answer was I would run a half marathon-- with a friend or two.

While the sky is apparently falling, Ms Brenda and two friends prepare to run the Yellowstone Half Marathon

So after downloading a couch to half workout schedule, months of preparation, one lost toenail, one embarrassing trip to the dressing room at Scheel's to try on compression shorts, and numerous hours spent reading about running and listening to audiobooks on long runs, I actually got to the starting line of the Yellowstone Half Marathon.  With a friend from work and my daughter.

We bought matching running shirts.

This girl flew out from Baltimore and stuck with me the entire race.  And documented each one of the thirteen miles we traversed.

Mile one.

And seriously, my glasses were steamed up like this most of the race.  And it was much harder than I thought it would be.  And I was thirsty a lot.  And I might have whined.  And walked more than I planned to.

Mile 8.  Really.

But I also ran.  A half marathon.

And I stayed on my feet until mile 11.      And then I fell on my face.  

But I got back up and brushed myself off (literally) and I kept going.  Like I was some kind of Olympic athelete.

And I finished,  And I got a medal.  A finisher's medal.  Because I finished.

And we wore the medals all the next day.  (And maybe parts of the next several days.)  And we posed in front of a giant jackalope and the American flag.  

And sang the star spangled banner.  

And when I showed my medal to a competitive friend of mine, he said, "Oh, did everyone get a medal?"  And I said, "No, they only gave them to people who finished."