Run Like A Girl

Well - I ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon on Sunday, and I lived to tell about it! There were hills, there was sweat, and there were more tears than I thought one person could produce.

What an experience!!! I felt GREAT until about mile 9 which is when I reverted to the emotional stability of a 4 year old. Crying and crying and crying and couldn't use my words to tell anyone what was wrong - I didn't even know what was wrong, I just wanted to cry! They say that you always hit a wall and mine was at mile 11 - I was tired, hurting, sweating, and just spent. I was crying and slowing way down when a patient who was also running the race came over, said, 'You can do this! You're doing this for me - you're running for my life!' and she cried and hugged me. Bring on the ugly cry! Holy cow, was that a moment. Suddenly 2 more miles seemed so incredibly easy!!!

They also say that at some point your brain goes to mush and you lose the ability to perform the simplest tasks. That moment was mile 12 for me. I had been texting family every 2 miles with updates and they sent words of encouragement and cheering to keep me going. After I sent out my mile 12 update, my phone was buzzing with responses and I looked at it and literally said to myself, 'I know that those are words. And I know that I know how to read those words...but I can't.' I COULDN'T READ!!!!! It was the most surreal twilight-zone-like moment of my life.

Finally, they tell you that you have a moment where you realize 'I'm actually going to finish!!!!' - granted, that moment for me came at mile 13.095 when I could see the finish line, but by gosh I knew I was going to make it!! My official finish time was 4:26:47 and the best news --- I wasn't even last! Sure, everyone I beat was probably either in a wheelchair or was missing a leg, but the point is I wasn't last!!!

Thank you SO much for all of the support during the past 4 months. You're fantastic and I really appreciate all that you've done for LLS and for me. Below is a link to my pictures from race weekend if you'd like to take a quick look.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2560059&id=10019966&l=9e929bbf33

GO TEAM!!