all things running...

Holy crap! I'm back to work now after 8 weeks of maternity leave and I had NO idea how hard it would be to find time to blog!! Lindsey, I am so sorry for bugging you to always blog. Now I get it! I've been back for 2 weeks and I feel so disconnected from the electronic world. I'm seriously way behind on reading tweets and blogs!! So this may take me forever to write since I have a ton to update you on and a 2 1/2 month old who wants my attention and is loud and clear about that! So hang in there with me... here goes.

I'm finally back to running! YAY! I'll be honest, it's been so much more difficult then I ever thought it would be. I ran my first race Sept 19. Well...I wouldn't say I ran it…more like walked/shuffled. Haha. It was the Portland Trails to Ale 10k. Danielle was super sweet to stick with me the whole way. I know it was killing her to go so slow but that's why I love her...a lot! Annnnnd she was super crazy to come run it with me the day after she finished the Reach the Beach 200 mile relay. Yeah, she’s hardcore.

This is Danielle’s thought about running today

I don't really know what my official time was, somewhere around 1:18:xx. It doesn't really matter to me. I was proud of myself for getting my ass out there and running 8 weeks post baby. I mean yea, I'm not pleased with my time and I didn't tweet the crap out of it announcing to everyone my slow time but I'm not upset with myself. But for the record I ran this race in 1:01:xx last year. Danielle and I had a good time chatting on our run about running, weddings, baby Ty, and fundraising for Train 4 Autism.

At one point someone was cheering for us and they said "yea walkers!! good job!!!" I looked at Danielle and said "we just got cheered on for walking. That will NOT happen again" and with that we started running again! Nothing like people cheering you on for walking to motivate you:-) I ran the race with a bunch of friends and had beer and pizza at the finish line. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Overall it was a fun time. The only fail was the fact that they ran out of water at the finish. I guess that's what happens when you are slow:-) At the end I didn’t have much in me to sprint to the finish line, but I did see the camera man so I made sure I looked ok for the picture

Here are Danielle, baby Ty and I post race.

The following weekend I went home and ran the Making Strides 5K. I ran this race last year and it's pretty important to me. The race is a fundraiser for my brother's school who is raising money to buy Occupational Therapy equipment for the autistic kids in the school. Last year is ran it in 28:xx, this year 35:xx...haha. Oh well. Again, it was more about getting out and running then my time. As my neighbor Mark said "Sarah you are not going for time right now, just distance" Um...duh!:-). In my hometown you are hard pressed to find any route that does not involve hills. My parents live in the middle of a huge hill so any way you go, you have to run up that hill at some point. The rest of my town is rolling hills. Needless to say, this course was quite hilly. We raised over $13,000 this year and in my book that's all that matters! Also, this year my brother who, if you don't know already, is autistic, ran/walked the entire 5k. Last year he had to turn around about a mile into it and come back. This year he did the whole thing and ran across the finish line with another kid from his school. SO CUTE! I'll admit, I had a tear or two. I'm also super proud of my mom for walking the entire race while pushing my son in his stroller. She has recently gotten into biking/walking and is doing an amazing job.

This weekend I volunteered at the Maine Marathon! It was so much fun!! The weekend was kicked off by setting up a Train 4 Autism booth at the Marathon Expo. Danielle and I told people about Sam, Operation Jack and Train 4 Autism for 6 hours. We met some great people who were very interested in what we were doing. So many people thanked us for being around. A lot of people that came and stopped to say hi to us were special education teachers that work with kids who have autism. We also met a few kids who are autistic themselves. I felt really good about being there and spreading the word. We really hope that we can build up our chapter and get some group runs/training going. So, if you are reading this and are interested in leading some of those runs let me know:-).

A few weeks ago I saw on facebook that the marathon was still looking for volunteers. So I signed up to hand out water at the mile 1.5, 11.5 (half) and 24.5 (full). This was the first time I had ever volunteered at a race and it was so much fun. I saw some very interesting outfits, people that had no clue how to run through water stops, traffic jams, smiles, tears, a runner down at 1.5 with a sprained ankle, and hardcore runners who wanted the jello shots that Elizabeth made:-). I left after the half marathoners went through on their way back so I could get to the finish line to see my friends finish the full.

Elizabeth handing out jello shots:-)

I've been pretty nervous about my upcoming race, the MDI Marathon where I am running the relay with 2 other friends. Watching the Maine Marathon got me a little bit excited about MDI. I’m hoping to run the first leg of the relay, which is 8.5 miles. My mom also wants to bike along side of me for my leg. I told her she could carry the camelbak so that I don’t have to:-)