Sub-Two Hours, Baby.

1:59:08.

Read it again. ONE. FIFTY. NINE. Sub-two hours, baby. Yesterday I said I was preparing for demise, and instead I got a medal and a finish time I get to brag about at every family dinner until the end of time.

Crossed at 2:59 PM — 106th out of 178 in the women's Open, 23rd of 31 in my age group. And here's the part that makes me laugh: Bella crossed in 1:59:07. Blair in 1:59:08. Me in 1:59:08. ONE SECOND. The three of us basically finished as a unit, like we synchronized-swam our way through five kilometers of mud.

That's my family, though. We don't do anything halfway. Bella raced TEN kilometers in the morning and then ran a 5K in the afternoon like it was a warmup. Blair did the same double. I did one race and I will be feeling it in muscles I didn't know I owned for approximately the rest of my life.

Look at our faces in this photo. That's the look of people who earned every bit of that medal and know it.

But the real quote of the day, the one I keep coming back to: "Somedays the moments are just missing them and others are rushing home to see them so I can breathe again. A weekend without my 3 littles is too long."

Today was everything. And tomorrow I get the best part — I go home to them.