At the top of Catherine and my bucket list was to complete a half marathon together. We have talked over the years about doing one together. We decided this race was the one. It was a beautiful race- flat, 70 degree sunshine with a light breeze, crowds of people and live music at every mile stop. San Diego is a slice of heaven and this is definitely the perfect place for this sort of venue. I began my training vigorously and was doing really well. In fact, I was ahead of schedule. Unfortunately with the nature of my life working full time and not wanting to sacrifice a single moment of time with the kids while they are awake, I was doing my training at night on the treadmill. BORING! As soon as I hit about 5-6 miles, I hit a wall. I just couldn't push myself, but I went to San Diego to complete this with my baby sister. We said we were going to do this together and I was determined.
My two favorites signs along the marathon course were "You obviously have great endurance. Call me." That made Cat and I laugh hysterically. Another of our favorites was at mile 10 when my feet were on fire, my hips were tight, my knee was swollen and I just wanted to see the finish line. There was this crusty old man standing on the side of the road with a sign that read "Hell, you've made it this far. Suck it up and finish!" We must have said that to each other 20 times after we saw that sign. It ran through my head like a broken record. But the sign pictured below stuck with me throughout the race and will stick with me for the rest of my life. For those of you who have ever done anything like a half marathon, a triathlon or whatever the big event, you know that the nerves leading up to the race are unfathomable. The adrenaline that kicks in and lasts 13 miles and then some is unbelievable. I felt God that day. I felt God many times. I was not in top shape to do this. I did not finish my training in the way that I should have. But, I am a strong, determined woman and I do and will always "let my heart race." I will teach my girls that we are strong and can do anything we put our minds to as long as we are not afraid to let our hearts race. It really struck me and as cheesy as it sounds, it changed my perspective. God was with me and it was amazing.
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| We are headed to the Fitness Expo to pick up our race packets. The nerves are definitely in full gear at this point. |
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| This is at 4:45 in the morning as we are being dropped off by our
cheerleaders, D and K, so that we don't have to walk any farther than
the planned 13 miles. Haha! |
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| We bought matching outfits. Aren't we cute? |
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| Ready as we will ever be... |
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| This picture is somewhere between mile 1 and 2. We were going strong and feeling pretty good. |
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| K and D- our cheerleaders! We were able to see them 3 times along the
race and it truly is unbelievable how inspiring it is to see friends and
loved ones during this kind of grueling event. It is so emotional. I
kept thinking about Daren and the girls wanting them to be proud of me,
and it pushed me to finish. |
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| This was very emotional for Catherine and me. We held hands coming down
the finish line and we cried. It was amazing! We did it and we did it
together! |
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| Coming down the final stretch |
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| Sister hugs at the finish line |
Mom and Dad didn't make it out to San Diego for our special moment, but they greeted me at the airport with a sign and took Daren and I to dinner. It was really neat! As I was coming down the escalator, people started cheering and I looked up and realized they were cheering for me. Very proud moment for me. I don't know if I will ever do this marathon thing again, but if I do, I will be damn sure that I am in tip top shape to do it. Ha! Ha!
