Until we meet again.....

Last week was full of all the feels. An end of an era really. My time working and coaching at Up and Running has come to an end. On Tuesday we had a celebration and I was super surprised when my awesome boss awarded me with a beautiful plaque. Cue tears. Damn it, I wasn't gonna cry.

I had kind of forgotten how many training groups I had coached and it was cool to see them listed all together. A lot of my runners came from current and previous groups and it was so great to see them. I feel very lucky that I was hired at Up and Running and that I got to work for and with so many amazing people and gain so many friends. I will really miss coaching and hope I can do more of it in the future. 

There was also ice cream involved but we forgot to get it out at the party so guess who got to take it all home. Not mad about that....that's okay, fitting in your pants is overrated. 

Because I really wanted to cry more than once last week, on Thursday I had dinner with my half and full marathon runners. And at that dinner they gave me this beautiful UTEP print signed by them on the back. Much of my coaching has involved runs through the UTEP campus so it is an awesome way to remember those runs and is so bright and colorful. I love it. My friend Karen is amazing at arranging stuff like this. My last training group she arranged a signed photo book and she arranged this print. So thoughtful and so very special. 

Dinner was super fun and it was nice to give them race day advice (be bossy) and wish them all good luck. Especially since I was supposed to work at the expo but came down with food poisoning or some sort of 24 hours bug and instead of working at the expo spent time bonding with my toilet. Not cool. 

I was better by race day (thank goodness cause I was going, puking or not) so bright and early Sunday I headed to the ball field to hand out medals and see my peeps cross the finish line. 

It was a super fun morning. I got to hang out with one of my favorites, my friend Sarah, and hand out medals to everyone and celebrate their amazing finishes. If you want to be inspired volunteer at a race, want to be extra inspired work the finish line. Race day was tough with some unusual heat but they all did amazing! There were some PRs, strong finishes and some fighting through the pain moments out there. Very proud coach with how all of them did. 

Thank you to Alaina for capturing the below photos! I was really happy I got to see everyone finish and hand them their medal. It was a great day.

Woody killed his first marathon and only started running a year ago!

Kim finished her first marathon strong despite knee issues and with her husband/ best friend/ running buddy by her side who ran her in. Running couple goals!

Karen coming in hot on her first marathon. Couch to 5k runner to marathon runner in a year! Amazing!

I am not sure what the future holds but I am forever grateful for my time at Up and Running. It helped El Paso become my home, gave me a community and introduced me to the greatest people. The nice thing is I can still go run with them until we move...(still TBD because it's the Army).....so they are not completely rid of me yet. I just don't get to boss anyone around. Well I will try not to, sometimes it just comes out.