Aurora's Blog

This past weekend, my friend Vicky did her first half marathon with me. I asked if she would share her experience in the form of a guest blog. Graciously, she agreed to write one. Take it away, Vicky!

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I’ve always wanted to run a half a marathon. It’s always been on my bucket list. However I always found some reason or another to put it off.

I ran cross country all four years in high school, and by the time college came along I found myself burnt out on running. I struggled for the last few years to gain back that passion I always had in high school.

So fast forward to this summer. I’m now a senior in college and I’m out in L.A. for a summer internship. While in L.A. I decided to make the most of my short time and take improv classes at The Groundlings. Improv is something that has also been of interest to me, and on the first day of class, I was excited to not only learn improv, but meet some awesome people in the process. One girl in particular I know really stood out to me. Here was a girl in “I Love New York” pajama bottoms and a sweet “Bad” cap. Upon meeting her, I discovered she was one of the kindest, sweetest, and most enthusiastic people I have ever have had the pleasure to know. As I’m sure you all know, this girl was Aurora.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Aurora and I became friends. She was always encouraging me to me to run a half marathon with her, and I must say I was tempted, but I always found some excuse.

First of all, I don’t really run much nowadays. Don’t get me wrong, I’d been going to the gym very faithfully this whole summer and would get on the treadmill a few times, but mostly I stuck to the elliptical machine and weight training. The most I ran the whole summer was three miles, and the idea of 10 ten additional miles seemed overwhelming, so I continued to find excuses not to.

So finally, this last Friday night, I saw Aurora had posted a request on facebook for someone to join her in Long Beach the next day (Saturday). For once, I didn’t have any real excuse not to. I knew it would mean a lot to Aurora, so hesitantly I responded. Aurora replied ever so enthusiastically that the race started at 6:30. My first though was: “In the morning?!” Ick! I am not a morning person, ask anyone who knows me. Now I really did not want to do it. However I knew I had already got Aurora’s hopes up, and I would feel bad backing out now. Besides, with only a week left in L.A. this would be my last chance to run with my friend. All right, “I’ll do it.” I thought.

So the night before the race I had a dinner of champions: a barbeque tri tip sandwich, mac and cheese, and a whole container of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. Yep. Who needs Wheaties. I finished watching the opening ceremonies and then headed off to bed around midnight. 5 a.m. came way too soon. I was quickly regretting this last minute decision. However I made a commitment. At 5:30 a.m. I got into my car and began the drive to Long Beach.

At around 6:00 a.m. I picked Aurora up at the station and together we drove the last 3 miles to the race. By the time we parked and got to the starting line, it was time to begin. Before I knew it, we were off and running. Over the course of the race Aurora and I had many great conversations. I couldn’t believe how fast the race went. I guess that’s what happens when you put two people in a race who love to talk. When we finally crossed the finish line, I was so glad I made the decision to say yes. It turned out to be much easier than I ever expected, not to mention a lot more fun. It was a great experience and a great way to spend my last Saturday in L.A.

So thank you Aurora for not only the invite, but the many laughs and smiles we shared along the way.

And I want to highly encourage anyone who has ever thought about running a half a marathon to say yes to that opportunity. And if you are in need of a great running partner, I heard Aurora might be up for a few more this year. 

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Aurora’s response: Thank you for such a sweet, funny entry (and for running with me)!