Long Beach 1/2 w/ bro & sis

So my sister and her husband decided to do the Beach Cities Challenge, and the Long Beach Half was the last of the three.  So way back when she threw an invite out to all us siblings inviting us to join them in Long Beach on October 12th.  Initially it was going to be my sister and her husband, Scott and his wife, and Chris and his wife.  After hearing they were all going I was sold.  I couldn't think of anything cooler than running a half with so many family members.  Ultimately it ended up just being four people, but it was still great to get that kind of opportunity. Jon was invited, and I would have loved for him to come, but he just couldn't force himself to pay that much money to go run. 

We were up bright and early even though race time wasn't until 7:30.  We wanted to make sure we got down there in time since traffic can be so horrendous.  We got into the second wave, but seriously didn't cross the start line until like 7:45.  We started out stronger than I would have preferred cause that totally bit me in the butt the previous half, and history totally repeated itself.  By mile 5 I was beat.  So I started slowing up and Traci and Chris wouldn't leave me behind.  They were annoyingly motivating the whole half.  I kept telling them, "Go!  Run me in at the end!"  But they never left my side and we finished together, hands held high in the air.  They could have finished in a much quicker time, but thanks to my out of shape no training rear-end we came in at 2:35:16 or something.  I am almost embarrassed to type that, but it is what it is.  I swear I have learned my lesson (finally) and will not be doing another half until I lose some weight and commit to really training. 

 While I loathe time it took me to finish, I am still so grateful that I was able to do it my sister and brother.  

 Getting ready to line up and start.  I think there were about 15,000 running this.

 We were anxious and ready to go, especially after the first wave took off and were expecting to go next and the MC just kept telling us, "OK, start walking to the start line.  We'll be starting in 5 minutes."  I swear that happened like 3 times before we actually got to go. 

Even though I was beat and hurting I did enjoy the run along the beach.  I ran by the Queen Mary and the cruise ships where Jon and I  ported for our honeymoon.  I would have loved to have taken a picture, but I was already slowing down everyone as it was.  We got lots of compliments on our shirts (Chris picked them up for all of us) and shouts of motivation along the lines of, "Go Supeman!  Go Supergirl!  Go Super team!" 

I love the medal.  The dudes may not love it as it's a bit on the girly side, but hey, I am all about blue sparkly bling!  I felt pretty good after the run which I was relieved about.  I certainly didn't want a repeat of what happened at Bryce.  Course the next two days while walking around Disneyland were rough, but the pain is slowly easing up.  Luckily I wasn't the only one feeling it!  We all had a pretty good chuckle as we hobbled around the park and groaned as we climbed or descended stairs. 

Jeff and Christa just moved and weren't able to make it this time, but we're already thinking about another run down the road so that Jeff can be there too.  I think running a half with all four siblings would be absolutely amazing. In the mean time, I gotta get in better shape so I can step up my game!