Everyone is guilty of saying I will never…    I’ve begun many sentences with it myself.

A few of my favorites are:

• “I will never wear tennis shoes with a dress just to get in a walk during my work day.” This one I do often!
• “I will never be one of those parents/grandparents who…, well lots of things.” There are too many of these to list.
• And, “I will never run 13.1 miles!” This time I don’t mind being proven wrong.

In 2001, my husband signed up for and trained for the 3M half marathon.  I thought he was crazy to even consider it, but I knew he would finish it once he’d committed.

He trained for several months and never missed a scheduled run.   We lived in the Texas panhandle and rain, sleet or snow never kept him from completing a training run.  He is much more disciplined than me.  When we met, I was a runner, and he a cyclist.  I jogged occasional laps on the track and around the neighborhood; he rode for 60 miles on the weekend.  I learned to ride but rode only once or twice a year.  He fell in love with running.

So before sunrise early February 4, 2001, I dropped my husband at the start line.  I ate breakfast and headed downtown to watch him finish. Runners crossed the finish line celebrating their victories.   I turned to my friend and vowed, “I could never run 13 miles and why would anyone want to run that far?”

Fifteen years later, having completed 15 half marathons and 17 full marathons, I stood in the predawn chill ready to run the 3M half marathon.    As I waited along with 5400+ runners, I shivered in the cool morning breeze and remembered that declaration.  I could never have envisioned myself running more than 2-3 miles at a time back then.

On this day, I was running with my good friend, Shirley and our goal was simply to finish.  Shirley has lost over one hundred pounds and is determined to keep it off.  She ran her first half marathon in San Antonio in December 2015 and as we crossed the finish line, she asked, “When’s the next one?”  So here we are lining up to make the trek from North Austin to the State Capitol downtown.  Shirley trained for the run using the run/walk method.  In San Antonio, we ran one minute and walked one minute throughout the course.  Our plan today was to do the same.

When we crossed the start line, we were both running strong.  As the alarm sounded for our walk break, Shirley said, “I’m feeling good.  I want to keep going.”  So we kept going.  Eleven minutes later I looked up and saw the first mile sign.  Pointing to the sign I asked, “Have you ever run a mile without a break?”

When she answered no, I replied, “Well now you have!”  Both our eyes were glistening when we passed the one-mile mark.

At mile 7, we waited in line for a “porta potty”.  That stop cost us 10 minutes but sometimes you have to listen to mother nature!

As we ran through the University of Texas I was in front of Shirley.  Suddenly, I heard a group of runners singing.  Shirley was talking to a nearby runner and mentioned it was her birthday the next day.  A spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday rang out as we passed by the UT stadium.

We completed the course and shaved 10 minutes off our San Antonio time.  Even with the delay of our bathroom break we were faster.   Amazing!

First thing Monday morning Shirley was standing at my desk with a handful of ½ marathon flyers, asking “Which one is next?”

So while we decide on the next one, we’ve already signed up for 3M 2017!