April | 2014 | running and wine

Last Sunday I completed my 8th half marathon! It was an amazing day for so many reasons. For starters, it was amazing that I actually made it to the start line. I woke up at 4:15am (after 4 hours of sleep) and just didn’t feel like going. I was tired and wasn’t looking forward to the hilly 13.1 mile run. The only reason I actually laced up and did it was for Meagan.

She is a daughter, a sister, a friend, loving wife & mother of two who is battling colon cancer. She was diagnosed January 22 just weeks after giving birthday to her 2nd perfect bundle of joy. She has a fantastic attitude, amazing support from friends and family and is kicking cancers ass!

I chose to wear my new Embrace the hill shirt on Sunday because I felt it was so fitting for this Hilly course! I’d go into detail about the shirt, but that would make this post very long and you would stop reading so instead, —–> Click here to find out more about the creator of the shirt, Sarah.

Click here to purchase a shirt! Profit from each shirt sold is donated to CHaD (Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock). This is where Maggie Philbrook received all her care.

As I was about to walk out the door and head to the race, I tried one more time to talk myself out of going. I wanted to go back to bed – well guess what self, so does Meagan but she doesn’t. She gets up for that cutie pictured above and her newborn son. She gets up everyday and puts one foot in front of the other for her wonderful husband Matt. She gets up after having chemo and takes care of her family and herself because she is an amazing, strong, beautiful woman who will not let Cancer keep her down.

6:00am I get to the start line and get that runners high. Happy I pushed myself. Here we go, 6:15am start … just embrace the hill. Less than half a mile into this run we came to our first hill. Embrace the Hill! I made an agreement with myself that I would not walk up a hill. If I needed to, I could walk when I got to the top. I made myself fight it. Lean into it, get up and over. Life isn’t easy. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and that’s how I looked at these hills. They make me more powerful as a runner. They make me earn beautiful views like this! It was amazing, the picture does it no justice AT ALL. (the course took us over Golden Gate Bridge, we turned around and ran back — amazing!)

This was a tough race. However for the first time in my half marathon career — I ran 100% of the time!! All 13.1 freaken miles!!! I shuffled through the water stations but I did not stop moving. I did not walk.

Thank you Meagan for sharing your story with me. You got me out of bed on Sunday. You got me through each and every step of this hilly race. You gave me the motivation and inspiration to push myself when I thought I couldn’t. For that, I am thankful! I wish I had more photos to share as this was a beautiful course. I chose to enjoy it and keep pushing rather than stop and document the moment.

I crossed the finish line at 2 hours and 12 minutes with the biggest smile (and lots of tears).

Embrace the Hill …. always. Lean into it. You are a better person after you are up and over it. ❤ ❤

I’ve never successfully done yoga. I tried hot yoga once and just about passed out doing it and had to sit down. The thought of going to a yoga studio to try again was intimidating since I had no clue what the basic moves were in the first class I had unsuccessfully attempted.

Lately, yoga pictures have been flooding my Instagram feed. These monthly Yoga Challenges where you post a photo a day. A friend had been posting photos of her April Challenge #inversionsmakeyouhot. So impressed with her ability, I commented on her post about the new one starting in March – Backbend yoga Challenge. She tried to talk me into it, but I wasn’t ready to commit. I was just looking forward to watching her progress and getting inspired to one day soon, give it a try myself. (( She suggested I check out YogaGlo.com (it’s $18 / month). There are so many styles / teachers / levels to choose from. She loves it and and recommended Kathryn Budig as her favorite instructor so far. ))

March 31st she posted her April challenge #YogaToTheCore – I’m all in. It’s time to pull the trigger and try yoga. I have nothing to lose by adding this to my daily workout routine & I hear it will help with running. So here it is! Feel free to join in the fun. Follow me on Instagram @hereforthewine , I’ll be posting my daily photos. If I can do it, you can do it. Click here to find out more – Kino Yoga

Make sure you follow @GlideSup @Beachyogagirl @kinoyoga @stoked_yogi (and tag them in your photos). They each post videos on instagram daily so you know how to do the move. Each one will post their variation which is helpful as well.

Enjoy the challenge! I am so far. I’ve said it before – you never know who you are inspiring! – Thank you Shauna Burke for inspiring me and getting me out of my comfort zone.