never say never

Alright...so it took me a week to recover and finish this post...sorry, I was a bit tired.

My journey to officially entering the Butte to Butte began exactly a year ago. The morning of July 4th, 2006 I was standing on the corner of 13th and High Street, at 8 am, eagerly awaiting Jeff's run past. After cheering him on, we proceeded to walk the 2.5 miles to the finish line and cheer again - and louder this time - as he received his 3rd place honor. On the walk, Andy and Jessica egged each other on about each participating in the race next year, while I flatly stated, "there is no way I'd even consider thinking about running the Butte."

Jeff running past 13th & High in 2006

Fast forward to March 2007 when I got serious about exercising consistantly. I began running - and I use this term very loosely - 4 times a week. Then in April, when Andy & I, fed up with trying to run on our own - because let's face it people, when you haven't got a clue how to do it right, every time you don't accomplish the arbitrary goal you set for yourself, you feel like the biggest failure - we joined a beginners' running group.

Now, before you judge this "weight-loss gimmick" let me mention that this group is completely free, completely people. So, no, it isn't like a late night infomercial selling you an ab machine that you can wear while eating potato chips.

The beginners' running group meets every Tuesday. Each week they set you up with a walk/run workout and they provide you with a 5 day workout schedule for the week. Our first night with the group we started at a 2 minute run/3 minute walk for 30 minutes. Andy 'n I have been running consistently 5 days a week and we've progressed our walk/run workout each week since March.



With my bold statement from last year in mind, I made it my goal to run (and finish) the Butte to Butte this year. So. This year we woke up at 6:45 am and began our morning get ready routine for the big run. Just as Toby pulled the Rav up to the closest point to the end of the runners, Jeff strode by, gave us a, "hey" and made his way to the starting line.

At 8:15 the starting gun went off and we walked, and walked, and walked our way to the starting line. There were so many people ahead of us (and behind us for that matter) that we didn't even start jogging until a block past the starting line.

With my music going and the hill elevation increasing I was at my first walk point and I told Andy I was doing good and that he didn't have to go up the whole hill with me. He obliged and kept running. I saw him for the next 8 or 9 minutes within close range of me...then came the bend in the road and big elevation increase...and I was all alone.

I did the rest of it on my own and that my friends is a whole other story...




...to be continued in Part 3