My whole life I've believed I wasn't a runner and that I hated running. A couple of months ago I had some friends talk me into running a half marathon. I could do a half but wasn't interested in a whole marathon. I started training the week after Brooks was born. At first I wasn't to sure I could do this. After weeks of training and adding to my miles a week I was starting to enjoy my runs.
I have the greatest running partner ever!! Vanessa and I run the same pace which is rare with a running partner. On the long runs Vanessa would come run with me. There were weeks we would run four miles and the longest we ran was ten miles together. We would get up super early on a Saturday, 4am or 5am depending how long the run was and if James was working. If James was working we would go run and get back by 6 am before he had to leave for work. There were some really cold mornings but it made those runs so much better when I had a friend run with me.
During the training we ran some races just to get an idea what it was going to be like and it was great practice too! One weekend I talked my niece, Reagan, to run with me. We ran the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning and it was eight miles.
The day of the Marathon was so nerve wracking! I was nervous and excited. Vanessa and I had made sure we didn't wear out feet out the day before and we had our meal of pasta the night before the race. That morning we woke up early and left the hotel by 6:30 am. Vanessa had told me that she woke up with her stomach all messed up. We just thought it was nerves from the race.
Once we finally got to the race there were a ton of people. I think somewhere around 10 thousand plus people were running. We made it to where we were to stay til the race started and Vanessa's stomach was still not right. We started the race and off we went. There were so many people to run around and about mile six or seven it finally cleared out to where we weren't having to run around people anymore. We had trained to mile ten so when we reached mile ten I was surprised how great I felt. I had been told the last three miles were the hardest. For me I'd say the last two were the hardest. I had some injuries that I was having to work through. About two weeks before the race I really thought I had torn my ACL in my right knee. It was bothering me but after mile five my knees finally went numb. It wasn't til after the race I discovered how much pain I was really in. At mile 10 Vanessa was telling me how bad she was hurting and cramping. I looked at her and said "Come on V! Only three more miles!!"
We finished our half marathon at 2:20. Our goal was to finish under 2 hours and 30 minutes. After the race Vanessa and I got our medals and pictures taken and just enjoyed the winners circle before we met up with Jason and James. We headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready to head home. When we were headed home, Vanessa told me she started throwing up. I looked at her and felt so bad for her. It was then we realized she had the stomach bug! I nearly killed by friend and running partner by running 13 miles while being very sick. We drove home from Dallas and stopped along the way for Vanessa to throw up. By the time we got home Vanessa couldn't stand up straight and her whole body was cramped up and dehydrated. After talking to Jason we highly encouraged him to drive Vanessa straight to the ER so she could get some fluids. After two liters of IV fluid they let Vanessa go home. Talk about feeling crappy and almost killing your friend! I'm happy to say that Vanessa was a champ and we are running our next half marathon in February!
Through this whole training process I learned so much about myself. I've always pushed through pain and this was no different. I had a knee injury and a foot injury. There were so many times I wanted to stop and walk but I wouldn't let myself do it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this. There was so much self talk to quit but I wasn't going to let that happen. I might not run on one day just to let my body rest but I was training as hard as my body would let me. If nothing else I wanted Farrah to see her mom do something that was hard and not give up no matter how much I hurt. To teach her this is important to me. To teach her that no matter how bad it hurts and if its really that important to her then she can do it. I reminded her of the bible verse from Philippians 4:13 I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.
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