Proud Of Her

I sit here and I write about the accomplishments I have achieved thru running. I brag about it and I brag about how supportive my family is. I'm going to change it up a bit this time and tell how you proud I am of a certain lady in my life. Deb is my wife. She never was into running when we met. Don't get me wrong, she's a sprinter when she needs to be. :) It was the distance running that she really wasn't into. Well, let me tell you, that seems to have changed since we came to Arkansas. I started a running club shortly after getting here. Most of you know I call it the Muckas Running Club. Deb has played a major part in it. She has been there from its inception.

Deb was always a walker. Not just a walker but, a very fast walker. I could never keep up with her when we would walk together. Well, she said she decided to take up running so we could spend more time together. Now that's what I'm talking about. ;) She has steadily increased her daily and weekly mileage. Getting faster and faster. She has run in a couple races since then. Specifically, she ran the St Jude 5K, in Memphis, last December. She smoked it. Looking strong as she entered Redbirds Stadium. Then, in the heat of the Summer (She hates running in the heat. LOL!), she took on the hilly 10K of Mucka Mania. Not only did she finish the race with no issues but, she was the 2nd female overall (Missing the 1st place female by 10 seconds) and 1st in her age group. This was followed by the Heart & Sole 5K in Jonesboro, in Sept. She ran this with Sherry and helped push Sherry to the finish. Deb placed 3rd in her age group. She wasn't finished. She ran the Life is Good 5K we helped put on at Village Creek. This was in Oct and she took our advice and ran this race for her time. Well folks, she was the 1st female finisher in this race. SMOKIN!!! Again, not done. She took on a new challenge. She signed up for the MidSouth Half Marathon. Now, Deb had only run 8.5 miles as her longest run prior to running this race. A half marathon is 13.1 miles folks.

We started MidSouth with temps in the 50s. That quickly warmed up to a finishing temp of 78 degrees and a lot of wind. I offered to run this race with her as I had promised to help her. What was I thinking?? This woman needs no help. She has got this running thing down. She told me to run my own race because she wanted to test herself and see how she would do on her own. She finished in just over 2 hrs and 5 mins, placing 1st in her age group. If it weren't for the temps and wind, she would have been under 2 hours, I have no doubt. Now, just so everyone is a witness, Deb originally told me that she only wanted to run this one half to see if she could do it, and say she had run one. She said she has no intentions of running another one. However, she slipped the other morning and, while talking about the race, said to me, "When I sign up for my next one....." Then she caught herself and stopped. I told her too late, she's got the bug and she committed herself to another half. LOL! Amazing woman my wife is. I am very proud of her and the accomplishments she has made. AWESOME!!!!