Kuwait Charity Run.

Saturday morning, Phil and I participated in Kuwait's first ever half marathon event in support of "Bayt Abdullah Children's Hospice"! Unexpectedly, this event was the most organized thing I have ever seen in my experience overseas! From the day we registered, to the day we picked up our race kits, to the end of the race itself, everything was organized by a team of happy and helpful people. It was amazing....and strange....and we REALLY ENJOYED IT!!!

Throughout the race course, rehydration stations were plentiful and volunteer enthusiasm was high. Every time we approached a yellow t-shirt, we could expect a "WAY TO GO! STAY STRONG! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!" and at two points during the run, we were brought to near-tears by groups of people waving Japanese flags and encouraging us to keep going. Phil and I returned the love and enjoyed clapping and cheering on those on their way back to the finish line. If there was a trophy for "most sportsmanlike running couple", we really think it would have been awarded to us.

Speaking of the finish line, let's talk about our race time! We finished the half marathon in 1:59:38!!!!! (Insert jumping up and down HERE). We can't believe we broke two hours, although looking back at kilometer 16 and 17 - it makes a little more sense to us. At about this distance, we had to fight through the joint pain and muscle aches together and worked hard to ignore the mental urge to just "give in". I'm not sure what I would have done without Phil beside me. I'm sure we would have finished in a time similar to San Fran (2:24:22), but he pushes me to be my best. The absence of hills was also a nice touch.

Next up? Our marathon with Team Diabetes in August. We are happy to accept "congratulations on a personal best" via online donations (wink). Click on the DONATE tab to say "GOOD JOB!" and make a difference :)