13.1

This picture is pretty cheesy but it really tells a lot about the last 10 weeks for the Ishams. I got a wild idea that I wanted to do something physical to test myself and "get back in shape after having being pregnant" before Griffin turned ONE.... so we signed up for the Music City Half Marathon. At first I could only run 1 mile without stopping. ONE MILE! It was a rough start to training for sure, especially since the shortest run on the training schedule was 3 miles. So after some tears and determination that I was NOT going to let my mind overcome me... we began our 10 week training schedule in February. It took a lot of COMMITMENT. Running 3 times during the week and doing long runs on Saturdays was hard at first but once we got it into our every day schedules I actually started developing a "need" to run. Let me back up and say... I AM NOT A RUNNER! Running for me was punishment back in high school sports so I always felt that there was no need to run and punish myself. So yea... this was a big deal for me. Very physically challenging, and mentally too!

10 weeks later the day had come- April 24th- Music City Marathon day!!!

My stomach was in so many knots the week leading up and I dont think I slept a solid hour the night before just thinking about it. Saturday morning we woke up at 3:45am to drive to Nashville so we could be there by 6:00 since the race started at 7:00am.

We were so grateful to have my Dad and Sue come and watch Griffin for us! They were great cheerleaders too :)

And 2 1/2 hours later we finally got to them at the FINISH LINE!!!

The race proved to be as tough as I thought it would be. Nashville was VERY hilly and we had not trained with inclines at all. The most we had ran before this was 10 miles and those last 3 added were gruelling! Whew... but we did it :)

And I simply cant say enough about this picture! First of all yes I got this off the website but we do plan to buy it soon ha. This was our team though, me, JR and Phillip. These two were absolutely amazing encouragers along the way and I have NO doubt that I would not have finished if it wasnt for them. They both are better runners than me and can run faster than me, but they promised to run right at my pace and help me get through it because this was my thing and they just wanted to see me do it. Are they not the sweetest?!?!

The celebration lunch with our medals on at Hard Rock Cafe. And that little man with us... simply put- my reason for running! I have never challenged myself like that before and it was so rewarding to be able to say I DID IT!!! I want nothing more than our sweet boy to learn to challenge himself along his life too. Just when life gets tough for him I will now be able to look at him and tell him about this experience for me and challenge him to push through just like I did. It was a great life lesson!

And I think he was proud of his Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Phil :)