The weather was gorgeous and I had the best cheering squad I have ever had come to my race - my parents. Yep, Mom & Dad flew halfway around the world to watch this race. They had never seen me race previously and I had been only too anxious to show them how far I'd come...what I actually showed them was not intentional!
I loaded up on cough medicine and cough drops the morning of the race, arriving super early to avoid any cat-fights for pre-race bathroom privileges. A little too early actually. As my mom asked, "where are the other racers?" My answer: "probably still in bed. Clearly smarter than me."
But I survived the dark, brisk morning as more racers and fellow teammates trickled towards the start line. The half marathon crew had a good 1 hour head start on the marathoners, but there were still tons of supporters out to see us off. The gun went off at 6am to more than 10,000 half marathon runners!
My friends and I started near the front - it took us only 4 minutes to cross the start line.
Consuming some cough drops, I stuck with plan to run with a friend at a 5.45 pace to cross us over the finish line at just under 2hours. I kept it up for 5k, but I knew long before that I wouldn't last. I was hoping I could...but at 5k I let her get ahead. At 7k, two cough drops and 1 handkerchief later my goal changed: let me not stop. If I stopped, I would never start again. So at 7k I decided to forget pace and focus on keeping those legs moving.
At 9k the blister started to form on my right foot. I never get blisters, but in my pre-race haste I tied my shoe too tightly. All I needed to do was loosen it and I'd be fine...but then I would have to stop to loosen it. At one point, I slowed to a 7-min pace crawl, but I kept the legs moving. I decided that I may not end with a fast time...but I would end smiling! And one thing that helped me through was the knowledge that I wasn't running for me today. I was running for a beautiful woman who faced some truly vicious battles in her life and whose time with us was cut too short. I was running in support of those friends and family she left behind.
I passed my teammates cheering from the sidelines with 500m to go, high fiving them along the way.
I saw my parents in the stands less than 20m from the finish line and blew them a kiss, smiling as much as I could through my pain, exhaustion, and disappointment. Crossing the line at 2.19.08 (a personal worst), I don't think there is much else I can say about that race. My dreams of running a personal best for my parents had been dashed from Monday morning when I woke up feeling so sick, so I can't say it was a surprise. I have never felt so badly before a race nor felt so wrecked after one! Try explaining "this isn't typical" to my parents when they saw my blistered feet and the mere act of sitting down was agony for three days afterwards!
But enough about this...the marathon was the biggest event of the day! And on they came! Whatever struggles and personal demons I had faced were nothing compared to what those first time marathoners (or umpteenth time marathoners) battled over the course. I had numerous teammates that ran it. They thought to run it together but that didn't pan out as expected...and yet none ran alone.
In a show of true friendship, faster runners buddied up with slower runners to ensure that everyone had support throughout the 42.2km of bitumen. One of my teammates wasn't running as well as hoped and had fallen far behind. Two amazing runners stayed with her the whole way, and not one of us waiting on the sidelines thought to leave before she had finished. A few of us even went up to meet her just past the 41k mark to walk with her on a few of those final steps to cheer her to the end of her first marathon (in the picture, I'm second from the left). Yes, I did cry as we walked the course with her, chanting her name and cheering as loud as we could. Because it isn't always about the destination. It is about the journey and the courage and determination we summon to put one foot in front of another when the way seems endless and our bodies and minds are beyond exhausted.It is about knowing that we don't run this race alone.
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