Run Like A Girl

As predicted, the day I ran the Nike Women's Marathon was an epic day in my life. It wasn't even all about the running, but the tiny moments that happened along the way. I am not going to recap my experience mile by mile, but here are some of the things that kept me going:

-Debbie and I hadn't even finished Mile 1 when a woman patted me on the shoulder and said, "Congratulations on 3 years cancer-free". This continued to happen the entire way. One woman in particular told me at Mile 20 that she had been walking the past 2 miles, but was going to start running again after reading my jersey. I tried to thank all of them for their hard work.

-Theme of the day: Keep on Truckin'! Must have repeated that over 100 times :)

-Mile 6 and half of Mile 7 was a continous, gigantic hill...THE hill that I had been hearing about for months. The top of the hill was covered in pictures of Team in Training Honored Teammates, including my own.

-"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone"

-Finding Coach Ginny and Coach Glen on the course and finishing off the last few miles of the race with them. They got me this far, and got to see the finish!

-Scooby, one of my good friends who is also a lymphoma survivor, jumping in a Mile 25 and running the rest of it with me. That meant SOOO much to me...I didn't want that mile to end!

-Getting a Tiffany & Co. necklace handed to me by a SF fireman after crossing the finish line. I have no recollection of what he looked like (too focused on a little blue box...), but rumor has it that they were all very sexy.

-And finally, a boyfriend who flew to San Francisco, talked me off multiple emotional ledges, gave me a pep talk identical to Joan Benoit's, sorted out my Cliffshots, taught me to "think like a winner", got up at 5am to see me off, bused to Mile 11 and made sure I didn't pass out, walked with me at Mile 16, stood there for another 2 hours and watched me cross the finish line, endured a sweaty bus ride back that smelled like "victory", got me ice for an ice bath, celebrated with me, sent me flowers when I got home....basically ran a marathon too...and never complained once. He is fantastic. I'm keeping him :)

Me, Karah, Lacey and Debbie - GO TEAM!

Next Stop: Eugene Marathon!!!

May 2, 2010

GO TEAM!