OMG, it was a long day yesterday, but a very memorable one, indeed!

I woke up early and got ready to go to Esther’s house to pick her up and head out to Los Gatos for the Zombie Runner Half Marathon.

This was her first ever, and it was actually the smallest race I’ve ever participated in:

In any case, it turned out that we had pretty much been able to run bits and pieces of the entire course throughout the days when we training.

Esther actually really enjoyed the first part of the race (through miles 6):

And the aid stations were fully-stocked with all sorts of snacks and plenty of water/eletctrolytes:

The trouble came when we started going up the big fat hill (Jones Trail? I don’t remember what it’s called).

The uphill actually goes on for quite a bit. The elevation gain is about 950 feet. Yeah. Holy crap. 

Esther’s a trooper, though. She totally ran through so much of the tough course:

I saw the Lexington Reservoir and knew that we must be somewhere close to the final turn-around.

I turned around to try to cheer her on, but I knew she sorta hated me at this point:

HAHAHA… not to worry. I knew she would hate me at some point during the race. It would mean that she is pushing herself and working herself to an uncomfortable level. This race was not going to be easy breezy.

In any case, I made sure to stay like several yards ahead of her, for fear that if she was close enough, she would kick my butt.

Hehe, I joke.

Oh, thank Jesus:

We power-hiked up the big hill again and then had a steady run downhill. Since her knee was bothering her, I told her to walk when needed. We alternated depending on the comfort of her knee, and made it back down to flat land:

And as we neared Vasona Lake Park, I told her we would have to push to an uncomfortable pace again (though by this point, her legs were dead tired from climbing almost 1000 feet and coming back down).

It’s a little mean to make the final stretch before the finish line on up uphill:

But she made it up and totally finished strong!

2:35:XX, for her first half, with knee pain, and the huge mountain to go up and down a few times. WOOOOW, Esther, you are so strong!

Not only that, but her loving brothers were there to watch her finish her first half marathon!

We’ll be running a larger-scale race one day soon, don’t worry. Even with the big elevation gain and stuff, it did not scare her away from running races (PTL!). After a bit of off time, we’ll look into what she will be racing next 😉

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After the race, we went to Aqui, which is a Cal/Mex restaurant. I’ve always wanted to try it and was pretty happy with it!

^I ordered the Cowboy Angus steak salad. So very filling and so very good.

ESTHER, I’M SO HAPPY TO HAVE A RUNNING BUDDY!

CONGRATULATIONS on your first half marathon, girl 😀 (from Esther’s Instagram):

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Oh, and I’m running another half marathon this morning. I must be crazy.

Wish me luck and hope you have a blessed Sunday!