I've never been so nervous for anything, other than the birth of my children. The knowledge that I'm about to embark on something that will be painful and take time to recover from, but that will totally be worth it is amazing! I'm thankful to report that I did finish and my medal currently sleeps through the night, unlike my children!
It's an amazing process of training for a marathon, prepping for the actual race, and then finally race day. Team in Training is an amazing organization that really is a team! I felt some amazing camaraderie from people from all over the US! I spent about 7 miles of the race with Sara from the Arizona chapter and about 11 miles of the race with Tracy from the Monterey Bay chapter.
Because I wasn't caught up in finishing within a certain time I was able to have conversations with people and really find out why they chose to run. A lot of people are out there for more than just to run a race. Sara lost her dad a year ago in December and her and I both shed a tear or two at about mile 12 when we each told our stories. We both lost someone we love yet we chose to turn that into something positive! Tracy was having a hard day and was thinking about quiting, we encouraged each other and took our minds off the pain. I know I appreciated it as much as she did.
I will never forget this experience and I'm so grateful to all help I had along the way! Will I do it again? I know I will be signing up for more races, but no full marathons as of yet. I guess we'll just have to see. Running will definitely stick with me, I'm hoping for a long long time.
My shirt is ready! It was a privilege to run in memory of these wonderful people! Running for a reason is awesome!
Congratulations! What a thing to accomplish and you had such a great reason to run! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for including my family in this. Cancer is an ugly thing, but the people you meet that have truly walked that road are strong and full of life.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on finishing, you are an amazing person and friend! Thank you.