I Miss My Running Buddy!!!

I have to take a moment to tell you about THE best running buddy on the face of the planet...her name is Amber Wood and she is the one who essentially created this Monster!

This is Amber and I after the Reno Rock and River 1/2 Marathon - the run that started it all!

Amber and I met a couple years ago when I lived in Reno, Nevada and one day she informed me that she randomly ran a 1/2 marathon up at Lake Tahoe - mind you, this is 13.1 miles at 6 - 8,000+ ft. elevation. For you flat-landers, that means she went for a really long run at an elevation where the air is a tad bit thinner. Naturally, this gave Amber some serious street cred in my books!

Amber's Super Woman-esque accomplishment triggered a little voice in my head that said, "Hmmmm, maybe you can give this whole long distance running thing a whirl...who knows?? You don't know till you try!?". And so, I expressed interest to Amber that I wanted to give this whole crack head, long distance running thing a go and we should start training together. Naturally, she was down with the sickness! So, we started our running journey together. At first, I was some what annoyed by Amber's always positive and peppy demeanor and wanting to talk the whole time, but it didn't take long for me to see that I was the one who had it ALLLLLL wrong! After the first couple runs together, talking the majority of the run, I quickly realized that the long 2, 3 hour runs were going by SOOO fast. Matter of fact, it hardly felt like long distance running! Not to mention, all these miles together, gave us time to get to know one another and get the weight of the world off our shoulders. It became our therapy session for the week!

Amber and I ran 2, 1/2 marathons (13.1 miles) and 1 full marathon together (26.2 miles). While training for all these races, we helped keep each other accountable, motivated and pushed each other through those long grueling runs.

If it weren't for my running buddy, I don't know that I would be where I'm at today!

So, if you are looking to take up running, reach out to someone and recruit them as a running buddy - you will be surprised at what you can accomplish and who knows, you may just make a life long friend!

I'm going for 14 miles this weekend...minus a runing buddy :-(  Wish me luck!!!

2012 Boston Marathon - T-minus 6 weeks!

Please help me clear $2k in my fundraising goals - donate now to Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership (MBHP) www.crowdrise.com/MariaDias

Thanks for being a good person!
CIAO!!!