Remember my cousin Laura who got married last month?

Well she's running her very first race this weekend!

I'm really excited because Laura and I have been trying to run a race together for the last two years.

Our planned first race, a five miler in Baltimore, got snowed out.

Then life got in the way. Laura was busy with work and wedding planning and I was focusing on running longer races.

We talked about squeezing in a short race in the spring before the wedding, but it was just too much to try to jam into Laura's already packed schedule.

When Laura emailed me after the wedding asking about doing a race in the fall, I pulled together a list of great local options, everything from a 5K to a 15K. She picked a couple that sounded fun and we planned on a fall race.

I was super surprised when she emailed me a few days later asking about a 5K that was three weeks out. It was an all-women's race close to her house on a loop she was familiar with. She wanted to know if I thought she could be ready for it with the small running base she had established.

It sounded like the perfect first race: All women, low key, on a familiar course.

Obviously I told Laura I definitely thought she could be ready and that if she wanted, I'd love to run it with her.

So Sunday morning, we'll line up at the start together. We won't be racing for time, just to finish.

And hopefully by the time we're done Laura will have been bitten by the running bug and there will be lots of cousin races in the future!

(Sometimes Laura drops by the blog, so feel free to leave her good luck wishes in the comments!)