A running hurrah.

Two years ago, I ran the New Jersey Marathon. I trained through a mild winter with some great friends -- some long-time friends, some new ones -- and ended the training cycle with a memorable New Jersey weekend that will forever live in my mind as one of those really, really awesome times of my life.

Cheers! It was such a fun weekend!

One of the women I got to know while training for the marathon was Gail. We ran together some before the marathon and then had that super marathon weekend away. After the race, we continued to run here and there. And, as it goes with running, when you're out there running 10 (or however many) miles, you talk about pretty much everything. You get to know people on the run and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Gail whenever we ran together.

Fittingly, Gail is right in the middle.

Now, though, Gail is taking off. She's moving away sniff, sniff so her dear friend Elisa put together a running "last hurrah" for her on Saturday.

I think there were 12 of us who came out to celebrate Gail, including most of us from the NJ Marathon crew (and that includes Melissa, who just had a baby!), and a few other running pals. We ran a little more than 9 miles, starting together, but then spreading out over the miles. We all came back together at the turn-around where we chatted for a bit and then spread out again as we got running. We were back together again at the end:

Gail's Last Hurrah! Post-run -- Lara, Heidi, Elisa, Gail, Mike, Ginny, Melissa, Bridget, me, Janis (missing Sheila, Melissa D, and Karyn). Running friends rock!!

 
Elisa did a super job organizing the run and making the whole thing special. She even got the weather to cooperate . . . how nice of her!

It was the perfect way to send off a running friend -- with a run. We'll miss running with Gail, but we're all so happy for her!

So, cheers to Gail! And cheers to running friends! Mine sure are awesome.

Have a great week, everyone!