Most Memorable #BRF Race-A Run to Remember

So in case you missed yesterday, this week is Best Running Friend Week at Another Mother Runner, and so this week's posts are going to be dedicated to all things about my #BRF Jill!!

On tap today is what I think is one of our most memorable races together.  Now let me preface this with telling you just how hard it was to pick just one race!!!  Jill has been right there next to me for both first races post-baby, up and down COUNTLESS hills, on 24 hour adventures, and countless others but this race for me held a special meaning.

On May 25, 2013, Jill and I strapped on our running shoes and headed to Boston to run Boston's Run to Remember.  This is yearly an amazing race but let me back up a bit so that you understand just what made THIS race so memorable.  On April 15, 2013, a sunny and beautiful day in Massachusetts, two brothers decided to change people's lives forever.  My family and I went to our usual spot in Framingham to cheer on runners as they came to mile 7 and Jill headed for her usual spot on Boylston Street to cheer on her brother.  I can remember hearing the news report coming through the radio as we were driving home about what had happened at the finish line.  Shock filled our car and we immediately turned on the news when we got home, but the first thought that entered my mind was, "Jill is there."  Hours of frantically calling her phone leaving messages, I was finally able to talk to her.  I can remember hearing her voice on the other end of the line and just weeping because I was just so incredibly thankful that she was ok.  Jill was positioned in between the two blasts and actually jumped the barrier and began to run the course backwards in search for her brother (For those of you who know Jill this is not a surprise).  It was an awful day on so many levels but I was so thankful that she was safe.

Flash forward now to race day....the first race run in Boston after the attacks...a race dedicated to police officers....dedicated to Officer Sean Collier.  There I was side by side with Jill!!

We almost immediately fell into step and conversation but this race was different.  After we passed her brother Stu (lol), the run vacillated between singing funny sounds aloud and laughing to reflecting and fighting back tears.  Police officers at MIT that stretched on for what seemed like forever out of their cars saluting us...thanking us.  Banners hanging and special bibs and signs reminding you of what was lost just a short month before.

All of these things kept the miles in perspective.  Did I run my fastest post-baby half? YES!  Did I do it with Jill screaming at me to keep going at mile 11?  YES!!!  And that's what made it all the more sweet!  Just a month before...that run amongst two BRF almost didn't happen!  That day in Boston's Seaport District meant so much more than a finish line to me...it meant I could run with my BRF again in a city we both loved!

What has been your most memorable race with your BRF?