La Familia de Gallegos: Running, Kicking, and GOOOOOOAAAALS!!

October 16th was a big day for me. A few months back I decided to commit myself to running a half marathon. Before this, I think the longest distance I had ever run was about 5-6miles, and that was several years ago while I was still serving in the Army. I never imagined I would ever be able to actually run, without stopping, a full 13.1 miles. Several of my friends had recently completed their first half marathons, which was ultimately my inspiration for choosing to run one myself. I thought, if they can do it, there's really no reason that I can't buckle down, put in the effort, train hard, and run 13.1 miles. So, I signed up for the Gig Harbor Race for a Soldier Half Marathon.
Now let me tell you, there were days, and more than just a few, where I thought I had made a HUGE mistake. What was I thinking?? I would never be able to find the time to train, and would never be able to actually run that far. I thought I was crazy! If I didn't have 2 great friends committed to running the race with me, guaranteed I would have quit training and walked away (Thanks again Zena and Carol!!). So, I stuck to the training program and just kept on running. I had several friends that kept me motivated, and a few that would run long runs with me (special thanks to Kristy for hanging with me during the 8 and 10 mile runs!).
October 16th was race day, and my goal was simple - I wanted to run the entire race.

Carol Barrientos, Zena Pearson, & me at the START line.

Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed running this half marathon. It was NOT an easy run, the hills were horrible! Yet, nothing felt better than crossing that finish line and knowing I had actually done it.

I had just run, without walking, 13.1 miles! If I'm allowed to be, I was pretty proud of myself for finishing. I made the committment, I trained, and I finished. My completion time was 2hrs 26 mins.

Notice the big FINISH line behind me?? Yea... I crossed that. :)

Finishing was such a good feeling, that I almost want to sign up to run another one... almost!

My 2 biggest cheer leaders - and the little one was even one of my running partners on occasion. Funny though, he never did break a sweat.

While I was busy training for my half marathon, Moises was busy being the captain of his soccer team, the Beta Blockers.

The fall season was their 3rd season playing together as a team. Most of the players are doctors and nurses that work at Madigan Hospital with Moises. In their summer season they ended up at the championship game and won! This season, SAME thing! Mo's team is the reigning champs, 2 seasons in a row. Not bad, huh? Even though he's had to miss every other game due to his work schedule, Moises has really worked hard for this team, making sure everything went smoothly, that they had enough players each week, that the jersey's were ordered and delivered, that the roster was accurate and full, and that the games went off without issues.