I get by with a little help from my friends.....

Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends....

I begin this post on a day that has had so much encouragement.....

and it all happened before 8am!

I can't tell you a time that I have experienced that much awesomeness before getting out of bed!
No really, I shouldn't.

Today, I realized that the one thing I truly was missing from all of my past training in 2012

was someone to train with.

I did my training for my very first half marathon along with someone who I enjoyed running with...

and who helped me to keep up with what OUR goals were, 

not just my own goals, because we would set them together.

This time, I have a goal set...a personal goal...that I happen to share with several others!! 

Now understand I am running all by myself in location, but I am truly training along with my friends!

I am grateful to get those early morning texts from people who are doing exactly what I'm getting up to do.

I feel more and more encouraged to get out of bed.

I feel more and more encouraging of the people who are accomplishing their goals.

While running alone is fun....for the feeling of solitude....I truly think that running along with someone is important for reaching a little further within to challenge yourself to do better.

I found myself running alone at the Full Marathon in January for a few miles.  

Those few miles were probably the hardest miles of my life.

I had no one to encourage me to not walk....

and I had no one to encourage to push harder themselves.

It was only for a few miles,

but I'm grateful that I had them to really see that running "with" someone is better all around.
I started the race off with some of the very people who I'm training with now,
but I lost them at mile 3- as I got lost in the bathroom!
I ended up losing myself in my run for the greater part of mile 3 until about mile 13...
perhaps it was the fact that I was running thru The Magic Kingdom,
perhaps it was because I did get to see some of my cheering squad rooting for me and for that brief moment- I wasn't alone.
I departed The Magic Kingdom...
then it got hot...
then I started walking, cause I was ALL alone.
**Insert sounds of the worlds tiniest violin here**
It was a very difficult place to be alone,
thru the Speedway-on the race track,
thru the area that smells the worst on Disney property
(this would've been a perfect place to have someone there with me..as we could have made jokes at least),
then thru Animal Kingdom.
I finally managed to catch up to some friends that started a few corrals behind me.
Yes, they passed me at some point...
What can I say, I was walking.
I ran/walked with them from mile 13 until 23!!!
The day progressively got hotter...
but I had someone there to encourage me,
and me to encourage them!
(It didn't hurt that they had their own cheering squad that had snacks and cold water!
Sometimes the cheering squad is the most important aspect of a run...but I'll go into that on another post.)
Being with them gave me the strength to say..."I gotta FINISH this!"
I ran for the next 2 miles by myself,
only to run into my team cheering squad once again!
Another teammate was around the bend...
I caught up to him, finished his beer...
and we FINISHED the Marathon together!!!!
I couldn't have done it without everyone there!

So I decided that this was going to be a year of establishing relationships with some amazing people!
Each of these AWESOME people are taking on their own challenges for running...
some as crazy as I am doing the Dopey Challenge,
some not going as nuts, but are still training HARD!!

While we are all on a mission to help raise money for our cause,
we are also on a mission to make sure we hold each other accountable.
Whether coaching each other along, or just plain comparing war stories from our latest week...
we're all in it together!
You know you just wanted to sing the High School Musical song!!

I'm grateful for each and every one of you who are with me on this challenge!

Thank you from the bottom of my SUNSHINE heart!!