Boxing Day 10k with Carrie

I mentioned my friend Carrie in my New Year’s Day post, and today I wanted to expand a little on our first run together and, more importantly, on Carrie’s story.

Carrie and I have boys that are the same age, and while our boys have gone to school together for a couple of years, we have gotten to know each other more this year especially. When my husband’s grandfather passed away in February, she happened to be in the parking lot the morning I went into the school office to let them know that my boys would be off school the next day.  It had been an emotional day for me for a variety of reasons, and when Carrie saw me heading back to my car, distracted because I had so much on my mind, she took the time to ask me what was wrong.  The floodgates opened up at that moment, and I told her everything that was on my mind.  I quickly discovered that Carrie had some similar experiences in her family that my husband had in his, which made her the perfect “ear” for my pent-up emotions.  We stood there in the cold for a long time that morning, while she listened to my troubles and empathized.  I believe God put Carrie there right when I needed her, because just talking to her lifted a huge weight from my shoulders that morning.

Later in the year, we both attended a “girls’ night out” with some mutual friends in August.  That was when we discovered we were both interested in running!  I’d been running for about 4 months by that time, while Carrie had just started.  We talked that night, and then we texted each other quite a bit afterwards, just comparing notes and supporting each other.  Carrie, as it turns out, loved running! She’s the friend I mentioned a few posts back who started running after me but now runs (non-literal) circles around me, lol.  By December, she was running 8-10 miles, 3 days a week!

When we saw each other at a Christmas event in mid-December, we made plans to run together. December 26^th turned out to be a day we were both available, so that’s when we scheduled it.  She runs (very successfully, obviously) in her neighborhood, but I suggested we try a change of scenery and invited her to run at one of the parks near us.  We were texting back and forth on Christmas night, making plans to meet around 8am at her house.  We discussed how far we’d planned to run, and I suggested 6 miles as a good length—pretty easy for her, but a good challenge for me!

The next morning, I rolled over at 6:30am and before I was even fully awake, I heard a sound that I suspect most runners dread: wind.  And not just any winds, but howling winds! I went downstairs to check my weather station and discovered that the winds were sustained in the 25-30mph range! Seriously, who wants to run in that?!

I texted Carrie right away, and we spent the next half-hour convincing each other to run (I think she did more convincing than me, lol!).  We finally agreed to run in her neighborhood instead of the park, since the park was closer to the lake and therefore would have really bad winds. I arrived at her house at a little after eight, and we discussed the plan…we would run a total of 6.2 miles.  That was my idea, and I joked that then we could say we ran our own “Boxing Day 10k.” Because I’m goofy like that. 😉

We started out close to 8:30, running on the roads in her neighborhood.  Oh my GOD, it was cold!  And although the houses blocked the wind somewhat, it was still pretty rough.  There were even times when we’d turn a corner and be nearly knocked over by the winds! (Or maybe that was just me, lol!)  But despite all the challenges, we didn’t stop until we got to our goal of 6.2 miles.  And we both agreed that, although it was hard (and cold…did I mention cold??), it was a great feeling to have it done.

That’s our second picture.  The first one, I didn’t have my hair back, and you can get an idea of just how strong that wind was, lol!

Our splits were darn good, I think, considering all that wind.

We were both thrilled to discover that our “long-distance” paces are very similar; neither of us felt like we were going to fast or too slow. (But imagine how much better it would have been without the wind!)

We ran for a little over an hour, talking the entire time, and along the way, I learned a great deal about Carrie.  I learned about her struggles with weight and came to realize that she had come a lot farther than I could have ever imagined!  When I met Carrie, she was about 60 pounds heavier than she is now (don’t quote me on that…but I’m pretty sure right in that range).  I’ve watched her lose those 60 pounds through healthy eating and exercise habits, but what I didn’t know is how much she had accomplished before I even met her!

For that story, I would like to invite you to head over to her NEW Facebook page!  Carrie had mentioned to me during our run that she had been thinking about “going public” with her story, so to speak, and I added my support to that of several of her other friends and family in encouraging her to do it.  I’m thrilled to say that she has shared her story with her own motivational Facebook page, and I highly encourage you to take a look.  She is an amazing person, who has accomplished so much, and it’s a truly uplifting story to read!

Thanks for reading and letting me share yet another of my friend’s success stories–I love to be inspired by successes, and I’m betting the folks who read my blog do, too! 🙂  Now, head on over to Carrie’s page and check it out—inspiration is almost 100% guaranteed!! 😉