Holy Hills Batman!

…I ran the Atlanta Hot Chocolate 15k yesterday. Alpharetta, especially around Lake Windward (where I live) is especially hilly and just about any run around here will have hills. The Hot Chocolate route made me grateful for every last one one of those training runs.

This was only my third race, and the first I've run with someone.

as close to the starting line as I've ever been!

Lauren has lots of experience with races, but this was her first one in Atlanta. I knew enough from the Publix Half Marathon and all our two-day walks that it would be a tough course. Having her by my side made all the difference. We encouraged each other through the painfully cold start (our fingers and toes didn't thaw til about mile 4),  that incredibly long climb around mile 5 and the seemingly endless succession of hills that made up miles 7 and 8. We had just enough left to race down the hill at the end. My garmin showed a 7:46 pace for the last bit. We were delighted with our finishing times - 1:20:23 and 1:20:25 respectively (she beat me by 2 seconds!) - and overall 8:38 pace. Not bad, we said, for two old ladies; we placed 9th and 10th in our age group! (The winner in our age group ran a 7:11 pace…whoa!)

Lauren's 21 year old son ran, too (a little bit ahead of us :-). So we had someone to take our picture. and drive.

after the race

The post-race finisher mug was a little disappointing. The hot chocolate was good, but I wanted cold water and some protein. Oh well.

It was ok because Marc left me a very nice surprise. (the dinner was delicious…after a nice nap and a few glasses of wine).

And now, a day later, Lauren and I are meeting for a short run and a long yoga class. I feel pretty good about the whole thing.

Thank you to my Instagram friend Beth for this post's title. She was so right about it!