A Race and a Reunion

Steph and I ran the Veterans 5k in Mason a couple weeks ago.  She's my BFF from far away in Idaho and was in town for a wedding.  As you may know, Steph is my running hero and it has been my dream to race with her.

Let me tell you, she did not disappoint!  The race was SO much fun!  Before the race I warned her that I do not chit-chat while I'm running.  "Me neither" said Steph.  BUT since she is from Idaho (elevation 3000 feet) and I'm from Cincinnati (elevation 200 feet)  She had quite the edge on me.  Those Idahoan lungs of hers are very well trained and she never got out of breath once.  Meanwhile I'm staggering along, barely able to breathe while she chit-chat's non-stop -- the entire race.  Although I was able to get a few sentences in.  Like:
I hate running!
This is so stupid!
Why did you talk me into this?
You are NOT my hero!
Racing is dumb!
You call this fun?
I hate running!
But, the best part of the race was The Finish Line.  We had decided to sprint when we saw the 3 mile marker.  So we did.  We ran like the wind.  SO FAST!  About 4 strides from the finish line I was completely beat and slowed down and Steph was a stride ahead of me.  Then a someone shouted from the sidelines "DON"T LET HER BEAT YOU!"  I'm not sure who they were shouting at but it gave me the jolt I needed to cross the finish line exactly 1 second before Steph :)  Clocking in at 33:44.  I know she could have left me in the dust the whole race, but I gotta say I was on cloud 9 when I crossed the line!  Such a fun race!

I also got to meet her new (to me) baby, Grant.  What a cutie!

and our kids got to play together. 

And the next day we consumed several scoops of Graeter's icecream, to celebrate our race :)