The beauty in friendship.

I am a very lucky lady. For a multitude of reasons (I love to count my blessings, they’re not something to take for granted, right?)  really — but a big one on my mind right now?

I have awesome friends.

Both near and far, “IRL” and of the bloggy variety — a line that continues to blur more and more, and in the best possible way — the friends I surround myself today are nothing short of beautiful.

I’ve mentioned the running sherpa ‘thing’ a couple of times now but I don’t think I’ve done it any sort of justice. And I don’t even know that this post will do it justice either, but I had to dedicate an entire post to the topic. It dawned on me after reading Spabettie’s blog post from last week (a fellow sherpa friend!) on this entire phenomenon, that I really needed to give thanks, right here on this blog, right now, for the world to see.

Quite simply – I’m in awe. 

In awe…that this group of beautiful sherpa friends has surrounded little ‘ol me (and Scott!) with a ridiculous amount of support during marathon training. I never saw it coming. And not because I didn’t think my friends were capable of such support, but because I guess I didn’t think I warranted such support. As odd as that sounds.

In awe…that they call *me* an inspiration to them. Um hi, you ladies inspire the hell outta me every single day. Your friendship, your loyalty, your own journeys as fit, faithful woman? Gorgeous. And awesomely inspiring.

In awe…that the love and support keep on comin’. The closer we get to October 7 (aka ‘d-day’), the more warm and fuzzy I feel nearly everyday that I log onto instagram, or twitter, or facebook or gmail. Little notes, words of encouragement, and funny-as-hell hashtags? Yes, please. 🙂

In awe…that I can count each of you as friends. Even the friends I have yet to meet in person (it WILL happen). I am a lucky, lucky girl.

So today? I’m thanking each and every one of you sherpa friends: 

Heather
Dorry
Lindsay (aka queen sherpa! *and* healthy bites genius…she’s even making Scott and I special marathon bites just for use on the big day, ❤ her!)
Jo
Spabettie
Melissa
Sarena
Amber
Christine

In addition to such fine sherpa friends as these, I also have some IRL friends who have been quietly supportive in their own ways. Either by running ‘with’ me on long runs days (and texting me to tell me so!) or by sending me cute text messages that I usually see right when I get back from a long run, cheering me on from afar. You have no idea how deeply it touches me to read a simple “thinking of you” text message after knocking out a double-digit training run. It means the world. ❤

You are beautiful, you are incredible friends, you are so dear to me, I can’t even begin to describe it. And you know what? I will run with a little more heart on marathon day (ONE MONTH from today!!) because that heart will be full to the brim with love for each of you. I promise to do you proud. ❤

<<and I’ll certainly need an extra dose of your sherpa support when Scott and I stare down our second 20-mile run on our training plan tomorrow morning. Be prepared to rally, please!! xoxo >>