The Tutu Run was run along the Nampa Greenbelt. First of all, I had NO IDEA that Nampa had a greenbelt. Secondly, it was absolutely gorgeous! The Boise Greenbelt is long and beautiful, but most of it is bordered by subdivisions and houses or parks. Those houses are beautiful and the parks are amazing. But Nampa's greenbelt takes you through some beautiful protected wet lands with lots of nesting ducks and baby ducks and eggs. It has subdivisions bordering some of it, and those houses ranged anywhere from fancy to shacks. Lots of the houses had gorgeous gardens. There were also lots of horse properties on this path. We had up close personal looks at horses, cows, goats, and lots of water fowl. We even passed a crazy cat lady house with lots of cats outside and watched as one tried to pounce on a bird (and missed). It was humorous. Then we saw some kind of water rodent in the water harassing ducks. That was entertaining and way too cute. It was a very pretty race. Most of it was on this path and off of the major streets and the path itself was quiet and uncrowded which made for an amazing walk.
At first we thought it was going to rain today. I even went out and bought us rain coats (just in case). Instead we had lots of cloud cover and winds, but gratefully no rain! It turned out to be a beautiful day for a race!
Today's half marathon was a small race. I don't think there were even 100 racers. In the mix of the racers were quite a few of my running friends. That isn't a big shocker, but I love seeing them out there. In the midst were Brandon, Megan and Jodi. It was Jodi's first ever half marathon and she killed it today! I got a few pictures of them. Since they were running, we got to see them a few times on the "out and back" stretches. We exchanged high fives and hugs and kisses. That made our day! At the last out and back turn around, we caught up to a woman who looked like she was in serious pain. She was by herself so we slowed down quite a bit for about 2 miles and walked with her and visited. She was here running the race with her friend, who took off to do his own pace. She was visiting from Arizona (where Naomi was born) and was not used to hills or elevation. She was struggling. But she was amazing! She is a cancer survivor and still deals with the affects of chemo, and there she was killing this race as best she could.. She was not going to let it get the best of her. She is a true warrior! We even got stopped at about mile 9 by another runner who started late and caught up to us. She was the one who stopped us at the Shamrock Shuffle to take our picture cause she thought we were too cute. She stopped us today to take a picture with us again. Too fun. I love my running family, and I'm so glad I get to share it with Omi.
The aid stations were amazing today! Not sure what was different today, but I really felt like we were being cared for today. The first aid station had gummy bears... not my favorite. So Omi just took some Gatorade and we kept on moving. The next aid station had a group of teenage boy scouts about Omi's age. They were very enthusiastic and amazing. They also had oranges.. my favorites!!! One aid station had M&Ms and Pretzels... YES!!!! There was another aid station with more oranges and pretzels. I swear, oranges, pretzels and M&Ms are my favorite things to snack on during races! On our "home stretch" we came back through the Boy Scout aid station, and 2 of the boys walked up towards us and gave us both huge hugs. That was the most amazing thing! I love hugs!!! And it made us smile. Just the pick-me-up we needed! Even though most of the race was done on the greenbelt, we did have to cross a couple of busy streets, and there were flaggers out there to make sure we were safe. This race was very well run. I am thrilled with the way it was run today.
Omi did a great job today. I love doing these races with her. We started out fast, and as races go, we slowed down. But to be fair, we stopped to take pictures a few times. And I also realized that there is a "wall" in a half marathon. For Omi, it hits about miles 8-10. She is just dragging in those miles. That is when she grabs for my hand and holds it tight and I find myself pulling her and working hard to keep her on pace. But there is much to be said for the strength of hand holding. There is so much to be said about pushing through pain, breathing problems, head games. There is something to be said for dancing and singing your way through a particular hard part of a race. And the conversations we have on these 13 mile walks are so much fun. I love her compassion. I love her strength. I love her wisdom and the example she is for kids around her. I love her smile. I love her joy when she sees the different animals and the squeals she makes when she sees baby ducks or a house rolling around in the grass. To see the world through her eyes is priceless. To watch her push through her struggles and finish a race dancing and running... it makes this momma proud. I am so proud of all that she has accomplished in the last 4 months of this race season. She had completed 3 half marathons and 1 10K. The first half marathon and this last half marathon had us finishing in under our goal time. The 2 in the middle were hard or just about having fun and getting through the day. I really think her perfect race distance is a 10K, but she does great on the half marathons too. She has also said she has no desire whatsoever to do a full marathon, and that is okay too.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to share these experiences with her. We are covered for races for the remainder of the year (one a month), but we will be taking the hot summer months off from running. I think we will volunteer for a couple of the races and give back to the running community that has given so much to us this running season.
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