Wow- what an event. Getting up super early- 3:00 AM and gearing up to run by 7:30 was hard, but oh so worth it! I set my alarm for 5:00, but hot/cold chills were racing through me. Jonah's sick, so it must be my turn. There was lots of people, music, excitement, and nerves by me. I don't know why- it's not like I was racing against anyone, like I had a time to beat or anything of the sorts! But I was nervous- maybe b/c I knew I was embarking on something I thought I would never do and there I went across that start line with IPOD in tune and playing all of the songs Rick picked out for me! The course was good for me b/c I had never ran it, nor did I know what to expect- which worked great b/c I was so nosey to see everything around me which distracted the time or the fact that I was running. I got some great advice for my run ~ here's some if it:
- think of a different person each mile- yea that is a great idea in theory, but my ADD had me going like this-- Jonah will be my 1st person I think about- oh what is Jonah doing now? Eating- oh yea with his Dada-- oh Rick - he's helped me so much while I train and what a good Dad! See there I went from Jonah to Rick like in 30 seconds- forget 1 person a mile. I'm more like many people a mile!
- think of something really hard I've completed (childbirth, college, etc). This helped. Although childbirth wasn't hard and college either- there certainly been times in my life where sadness was overshadowed and I was discouraged and yet I prevailed! And I was going to prevail over this run no matter what!
- Pray! Oh yea- that certainly worked. I wasn't praying to finish, but just used it as a mediation time for myself.
- Smile- even when I wanted to quit, I remember Laurie telling me to smile b/c I could say that I am in good shape doing this run and to be grateful for not being in a wheelchair doing it or that I had something medically wrong that wouldn't let me run. The only thing that wouldn't let me run was ME- and that wasn't an option!
- Think of the finish line~ I'm sure they were talking about the cheering, the crowds. Me- I think of the nice ice cold sweet ice tea Rick is going to have for me at the end.
So here is the stats: 13.2 miles in 3:08 (3 hours and 8 minutes)
I wasn't discouraged when I saw people coming back down the trail when I was still making my way uphill, I smiled and kept going. I got bored with running so I'd walk more, then I'd get bored with running and I'd walk. Do you see a pattern? I get bored quickly! I needed those aid stations! I did walk more than I planned, but my goal was to finish not run any amount of time.
There was 4 other girls who we all paced each other- a few would go ahead and then me and this other girl would go ahead. It was nice to have each other to motivate and keep us going.
But the 2 best parts were when Mom, Art, Auntie Loy, Rene met me at Mile 11 to cheer me on! What a surprise! They didn't tell me they were going to do that. And boy did I need some of that. It was Mile 11 where I was "feeling" it! Legs were tired, hungry, feet were getting sore, and I still had a few more to go. It made me smile as I "high five" them and continued on.
Then the next best part was finishing the race ~ seeing my family there at the line- long after the larger crowds had left, long after the Awards were given out, long after the "winners" were announced. But there stood my family cheering me with their home made sign and banners and screaming for me as if I was the first person to cross that line, as if I was about to receive my Award. Which in reality I did. Sure I got the medal (which I wore so proudly), but I proved to myself that I could do something I thought was out of my league, do it well (not perfectly), have fun and live to talk about it in a positive way afterwards.
There were misc quotes along the way (which I totally loved). The best one said:
"Winning is finishing!"
PS- Pics are courtesy of my wonderful sister who with all the kiddos and hubby came out to cheer me on! Love you guys so much! There aren't any pics of Jonah & Rick b/c Rick called me at 8:15 telling me Jonah had a 101 temperature! So for this day, Rick's important role was to be "Daddy, nurse, doctor, comforter, etc) rather than cheering me on. That's ok- they were there in spirit and cheered me on as I entered our home. And Jonah put my Medal in his mouth ~ And of course, I had Rick's DJ skills on my IPOD getting me through mile after mile.
