I got up early (how could I not) and headed out via shuttle with my ladies to the starting line. Bibs on, timing chips attached, ready to go. And then Megan says, "Wow, those clouds look like they are going to open up on us." And then they did. It rained, and rained and rained. But we didn't give Megan a hard time at all!
And off we went. All five of us. Megan, Stefanie, Gabriella, Elaina and myself. Worrying we wouldn't have conversation to get us through 13.1 miles of running (3 hours) we set out planning to each share a story/memory from each grade. We started in Kindergarten. It was fun. Along the way we saw a lot of kilometer signs, no mile signs and were often doing the math to figure out how far we had gone in miles. This passed some time : )
(Running by the water stop-first purple jersey on the left!)At kilometer 6 (so, just over 4 miles), we came to a water stop. I looked over and there was Jackson and Rick! Jackson shot up in his stroller, gave me a half hearted confused wave and expression and by the time I had burned his little face in my memory, we had passed them. This is Rick's shot of us running by, I am the first purple shirt from the left (ha, good luck!).
This was the easy part of the run. The rain had mostly been a drizzle. The terrain was flat. But then the rain really started. And my stomach weakened. But we pressed on. The hardest part of the run we had trained for, the hill, "Prospect Point," any hill that is named, is going to be tough. We were okay walking it, but we kept a steady pace going up, and the rained lessen the stress of the hill (in my opinion) and we made it.
At mile 10, there was an actual mile marker. Then Megan looked at me and said, "this is as far as we have ever run! " The marker was a great feeling, 3.1 miles is nothing when you have already ran 10! And it was seemingly all flat or downhill from there. Once the kilometer signs were under a 5K, it was a great feeling (mentally) but wow, my body was killing me! Every step. But it was worth it. At about the 4K mark we saw Coach Lisa (she had ran with us many times on Saturdays), and it was great to see a familiar face on the course! She ensured us we were almost there, and then ran backwards looking for more of our team. Right as she was leaving us, we saw Ali (a training friend who ran the Big Sur Marathon the weekend before, spraining her ankle at mile 17 and still finishing all 26 miles) taking photos and cheering us on!
With 1K left, we saw Megan's family! Andrew, Luca were there to take photos and cheer us on, although we received word at the finish that Luca was very upset that his mommy did not stop to snuggle him. So cute. Luca is only 20 months.
(Megan and I in the home stretch- Megan is the first purple jersey from the left and I am the second)At this point we entered the final stretch, the home stretch once might say, and I looked over and there was Rick and Jackson. It was really crowded at the finish line, and I am amazed we actually saw them! Shortly thereafter, we crossed the finish line! Were wrapped in blue plastic blankets and handed our finisher medals.
(All of the finishers congregating in the finisher area)
(Four of the five, we are missing Stefanie, all finished!)
(Family photo, all finished, all wet, ready for the next one!)Everything was great. I'm not going to lie. I was in a fair amount of pain for the rest of the day and the following day as well. But it all comes back to what we ran for and what we hope to change by spreading awareness.
Thank you so much for following my journey. Especially to Rick and Jackson, who were tugged along and were overly supportive!
I couldn't just walk away after crossing the finish line and have since signed up to be a mentor for the Fall Season and plan to mentor a team of five for the Portland Half Marathon on Oct. 10, 2010. I am really exciting to be continuing and hope to be able to provide the support to my mentees that mine did for me.
More to come! Promise!
