Friday, September 17, 2010

Budapest-My First Half Marathon!!

Before all our husbands left a group of Buzzettes came up with the idea to train together for a half marathon...it would give us something fun to work towards, and in May any goal in September seemed really far away. So throughout the entire summer we have been running. There has been a great group of ladies working out together and we all made amazing progress. The first weekend in September we all packed up (some with all their kiddos too) and made the road trip to Budapest. It took about 8 hours to get there, but it was an amazing city! You don't really hear much about it, but I would totally go back...and hopfully I will get to go with Kevin next time.

We desided that we deserved a little pampering and stayed at a very nice hotel right near the Chain Bridget in the center of town. The race was Sunday morning...here's a picture of our Buzzette group that morning before leaving for the race start.



We thought it would be fun to get squadron shirts, and it turned out to be a great idea because the race was really crowded, so this made it way easier to find each other...just look for the huge mass of purple.

We all started together and we ran right past our hotel where some of the non-running ladies took pictures as we passed. Here's me and Tiffany about to cross the Chain Bridge (about 5K in I think).



This has been an amazing goal to work towards, and it has been great to work towards it with such a wonderful and strong group of women. I look forward to our weekend runs, and I know that our many mornings of venting while running kept me sane. I will admit I nearly cried as I crossed the finish line. All I could think about was how proud Kevin would have been of me...I wish he could have been there to see me finish. But, I guess that means I just have to run a full marathon when he gets back to make up for it!:) It was such a positive experience that I am running my second half marathon tomorrow morning here in Aviano...I totally see how this running thing gets addicting:)

2 comments:

  1. You are so awesome!! I almost cried reading this I am so proud! It must be the pregnancy hormones. I am sure Kevin is proud from very far away, too. I am so glad you have such an awesome group of ladies there with you. Isn't Kev coming home any minute? I hope your second one went well today too!

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  2. Kyle Strongin24 October, 2010

    Erica,

    You and I totally need to run one together. I didn't have a group of girls from base that wanted to run with me but last year while Matt was in Afghanistan my neighbor talked me into doing a half with her. She thought it would be a good way for us to hang out and a way to keep my mind off Matt being gone. Totally worked and felt really good to get in great shape before Matt came home. I ran the half in April and am currently training for another in February. I totally know what you mean about crying when you cross the finish line. Luckily Matt was home to see me cross the finish, but my first 10mile day I broke down during the home stretch from being so lonely but at the same time knowing how proud he would be.

    Great for you to do this and tell Kevin hi for Matt and I. If we're ever in the same area again I will totally run anything with you. Congrats on 2 down!!

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