aron

sometime around new years 2008 i received a flyer in the mail for train to end stroke and running the san francisco marathon. my husband chris and i have always been into working out but were never big runners, and we thought this would be a fun challenge to tackle. i have had a few friends who ran races and they always sounded like so much fun, plus the whole "training" aspect really makes you feel like an athlete which i love.

so we signed up with train to end stroke and on february 9th ran our first "training" mile, and from day one i was addicted. i loved being on a schedule and having a goal to shoot for. i met tara and kristin in the first couple weeks and it wasn't long before we all became friends. not only were we some of the few training for the full marathon, but we also were around the same age and really got along great. i am so lucky to have met them. training continued on and i loved the feeling of accomplishment i would get after another distance PR each week. i still remember getting to double digits and what an awesome feeling that was.

at the end of may tara, kristin and i ran our first half marathon together. it was such a great day and we all had a great race ending with chocolate and champagne. we continued to train together and had many adventures doing some crazy 20 mile runs through san francisco. it seems like the time went by so fast and before we knew it we were at the starting line of our first marathon - san francisco. we all had teary eyes as we started and a few hours later we were all marathon finishers!

tara, kristin and i continued to keep in touch and run together post SFM. through the blogging world i was able to meet julianne in person at a 5k in san francisco, and again at the san jose half marathon where i introduced her to tara. after chatting with maritza through email (she was one of the first blogs i read) we finally met up in person for her last run before nike and had a long chatty breakfast after. kristin and i were planning to cheer at nike so i drove maritza in and we met up with tara... and it's all been history since, very much "meant to be". i thought it would be fun to set up a team for the napa to sonoma half marathon in july, and so we started talking about team names and the team name ROHO was born, and now we are the ROHO girls :)

i have told these girls several times that i am SO LUCKY to have met them. it is so great to have such awesome girlfriends AND to share our passion of running. we all get along so great and i feel so blessed to have met them. we continue to meet very frequently for runs, cheer each other on at races, have slumber parties, attend other parties and just have fun.

in the short time we have all been friends we have already shared so many emotions... highs, lows, tears, laughs. when you need a shoulder to cry on, a person to obsess over numbers and running goals with, someone to laugh with, someone to cheer you on and make signs, someone to support you when you start to doubt yourself, someone to celebrate with when you reach your goals, and someone to bring you back up when you don't quite meet them... these girls are there. i can't wait to see what this year brings because we have A LOT of plans already and i know we are going to have many, MANY more memories to come (including the first race we are ALL running in this upcoming weekend!).

so not quite a year later after that first training mile, i have run 3 half marathons and 2 full marathons with many more in the future. running has truly become a passion and something that i just don't function well without. i do truly love to run.