It's Not Goodbye ...

I want to send my best wishes out to Sanj as she begins an AMAZING new journey! She is one of my best friends and closest running buddies - and will be greatly missed in this city. She is taking her talents to the Lone Star state to pursue further academic achievements (gosh this girl is smart!)

Race for the Cure - "Think Pink!"

I met Sanj during Freshman year of college as we both lived in the same corridor of our dormitory. We both fell in with a fast group of friends and thus the fiotches were born. (There is debate as to the origin of the term fiotch ... all theories are inappropriate for posting. Our friends fondly refer to one another with this term of endearment.) Sophomore year found us in the same corridor but this time it was planned rather than by chance. By Junior year we were living in an apartment with our two other best girlfriends (Sam and Bethie) and the eternal bond of 302 was born. (Sanj and I shared a bathroom. And there is no one I miss more from my college days than our cleaning ladies. I despise cleaning my bathroom and now understand how lucky we were to have such super maids!)

During our Senior year Sanj helped me to train for my first ever 5K race. Believe me when I say that 3.1 miles was a BIG deal for me. As a former cross country runner, she helped this novice to keep pace throughout the race and helped me to forever fall in love with running. I could never have made it across that Finish Line without her support! We signed up for another 5K that Fall. (I ended up running ... Sanj was still recovering from the night before and was smart enough to skip the race. I have never ever wanted to run while hungover again. Not fun.) As Senior year progressed running took a backseat and instead we decided to really live up our final months together. As the fiotches donned our caps and gowns that Spring and hugged each other, we knew that it wasn't "Goodbye" but simply "See you later."

That summer both Sanj and I trained for our first half marathon. We were training independently as we lived in different cities. In fact, we had both registered for the same race and I didn't even know she was running until I crossed the finish line and she came bounding up to greet me! They say that great minds think alike - and I know it is true!

Enter "real life." Stuff like jobs and grad school - bills and the general boring-ness of adult life. Add in being separated from the friends you love the most and it got really hard, really fast. But I was super lucky in the fact that Sanj and I ended up in the same city post-graduation. While we both had VERY busy schedules, we were able to get together and hang out every once in awhile. And then the scheming started.

I don't remember exactly who it was that came up with the idea first. (I will probably give the credit to Sam.) But it was proposed that some of our friends get together in May to run the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon. We all jumped at the opportunity and began training. Sanj, Sam and I crossed that Finish Line Swine in victory a few months later. And we've kept running ever since.

3/4 of 302 at the Flying Pig Finish Swine

The following September Sanj and I hit the road and traveled to Philadelphia, PA to race in the ING Rock n' Roll Half Marathon. With over 15,000 runners it was an outstanding sold out race. Sanj was forced to do a "bandit" run as she was not able to secure an official race spot ... oops! We had a GREAT weekend (including but not limited to schenanigans such as staying in a swanky hotel, drinking beer at the race expo, touring the city and taking mass pictures Top Model style, obsessing with the Ralph Lauren store, dancing with hobos, attending a massive party the night before the race, oh yeah, and actually running 13.1 miles.)

fiotches as Rocky Balboa @ Philadelphia's Half Marathon

Posing pre-race with the "Bandit"

It has been great having one of my closest friends living in the same city.
And it helps that we both LOVE running so much!

city run after the Bart Yasso lecture

We've kept running and ran ourselves all the way down to our nation's capital city this past Spring for DC's National Half Marathon. (Sam joined into the race too and other friends Bethie and Jason graciously cheered us on!)

friends in Friendsville, MD en route to DC for the National Half

Girl, while I will certainly miss having a partner-in-crime living in the same city as me, I know that you are going to love Texas. Just let me know when Houston is ready to handle both of us and I will be down to visit in a heartbeat.

PS I wonder if the saying is really true : "Everything is bigger in Texas ... "