First of all, let me start by saying ‘thank you’ to each of you for your prayers and sweet comments regarding my stepmom’s surgery. Each comment was so sweet and pretty much had me in tears from the outpouring of love. The surgery went very well and now she is recovering. Starla still has a very long and hard road to travel with recovery, but we all feel very blessed with the current outcome. She is such an inspiration to me and really all that she comes into contact with.
With that being said, I will be traveling later today to pickup the packet for my next ½ marathon and tomorrow, I will be running the Inaugural Mississippi River (half) Marathon.
This is the race that I’ve been talking about trying to reach my sub 2 goal. I will be running it in honor of Starla and the battle that she’s going through right now. With only two weeks until my marathon, I’ve already been lectured about trying to push myself too hard but if Starla can go through a double mastectomy, surely I can push myself for a measly 13.1 miles. That’s my thought on that and I’m not going to change my mind. {crosses arms indignantly}
The race starts in Arkansas and finishes in Mississippi so this will be my first interstate race – yay! The course brags about how flat it is and judging from the event page, I’ll have some beautiful views.
I’ve updated my playlist and will be jamming to some major rock songs from the 80s (think AC/DC, Scorpions, Joan Jett…) along with some newer songs from Neon Trees, Mumford and Sons, and Young the Giant. Sprinkle in some oldies from the 60s & 70s and some 90s heavy metal and you have a good idea of my playlist. It’s pretty eclectic &/or random…just like me. And hopefully will distract me for no longer then 1 hour, 59 minutes and 59 seconds. 😉
Question: What are your weekend plans? Do you ever race in the weeks before a marathon or 1/2 marathon?
Noshing On Asphalt 
That race looks awesome!! Good luck!
I have my 12 mile long run tomorrow morning. I’m definitely looking forward to it
Yay for you!! I hope you have an amazing 12 miler! 🙂
I’m glad she’s on the mend now. It’s a terrifying thing to go through. I hope she continues to get better! I know you’re going to run fast because you’ll be channeling her and that’s awesome! Good luck girl! Rock that half 🙂
Thanks Sarah for all of your encouraging words. ❤ We actually just got a bit of bad news that one of her lymph nodes has a small amount of cancer in it so she has to go back for more surgery. Fingers crossed that this surgery will take care of everything.
Have a great race tomorrow, Gina–go get that sub-2 finish! 🙂 I’m actually not sure what my plans are this weekend. NYC is currently on lockdown because of a blizzard warning, so I’ll be laying low for the next day or two.
I hope that the storm didn’t mess up things as much as everyone expected. Maybe you got some exploring done yesterday? 🙂
That race looks GORGEOUS – I’ll be cheering for you… sub-2 here you come! Go Gina Go! 🙂
It was an absolutely gorgeous race. I can’t wait to do it again next year!
So glad. And WOOOOO for that sub-2! 🙂 Can’t wait to read about it!
It’ll beautiful and you’ll kick major butt, duh!! Xoxo
Yaya! I kicked some bootay for you Kat!
I’m so so so glad to hear everything went well with your stepmom. Good luck this weekend with your half! I can’t wait to hear about it.
Thank you so much Amanda for you sweet words. Starla is doing really well (recovery wise) but we just got some news that the doctors found more cancer in one of her lymph nodes. She’ll be going back for more surgery; hopefully this time will be the last time.
Looks beautiful! Have a great time and can’t wait to read about the recap!
Glad to know Starla is still on the up and up from yesterday’s surgery 🙂
It was a beautiful race, incredibly scenic. 🙂 Starla is recovering well but we just found out from the doctors that they found a small amount of cancer in one of her lymph nodes. She’ll be heading back for surgery for {hopefully} the last time.
better to catch it now! Fingers crossed for her next procedure!
Wow good luck with that. That race looks like it’s going to be absolutely stunning. I always liked first time races..something about the new thrill of them!
The views were gorgeous, Hollie. You would have approved. 🙂
Sounds like such a good race to run in! We may be getting some snow … Yay. (Not) I should be running 8 miles on Sunday if its not too bad! Have a good race!
How did you fare with the snow, Katie? Hopefully you were able to get out for your long run.
Good luck this weekend!! And Joan Jett is a constant staple on my running playlists.
If Joan Jett is a staple on your playlist, I’d love to know what other songs you rock out to. I’m guessing some pretty BA ones!
Run fast tomorrow Gina! 🙂 You’re going to do great. #sub-2! Weelll, I ran a half last week, and I’m running another tomorrow, but that’s tiddlywinks compared to the 2X+ miles you have been putting in!
Thanks Beka! I did run like the wind and got the sub 2 – woooo-hooo! I loved seeing your pics from RnR St. Pete. Definitely looks like you had an amazingly fun time.
Good luck!!
Thanks, Mary! ❤ Hope you had an amazing weekend.
I have never done an interstate race before that is very cool. I hope it went wonderfully. I am going to go Twitter stalk you now to see if I can find out.
It was pretty cool seeing the “now entering Mississippi” sign. 🙂 Glad you twitter stalked me, friend!
Scenery looks beautiful!! 🙂 A bit late, I think.. but hope you had an awesome race!! (I’m a few days behind on my reader!!)
And cute new blog header! 🙂