The weekend started with us leaving town late and not getting to the registration tent in time for my shirt and bib. Yuck! That meant we had to wake up even earlier to make sure I could get everything done in time for the race. Mom was nice enough to get us a hotel for the night so we met Kelly at the hotel and went out to for some dinner. After we ate, we hung out and tried to convince the munchkin to go to sleep...it was probably after midnight before we all fell asleep. The alarm went off at 5:30a and the day began! There was a little stress on the drive over because of a small error in the GPS input that deposited us in someone's front yard, but after we got that figured out, it was smooth sailing. I checked in, got my (BRIGHT yellow) shirt, pinned on my number and 'in honor of' bibs, and started stretching. A quick munch on a banana and a piece of bagel, an even quicker drink of water and, before I knew it, they were calling us for staging. (somewhere in there we found time to take some pics, but it's kind of a blur) I found a place somewhere towards the middle of the pack of 3,000!! I chatted with a few people standing near me, but I found I wasn't nearly as talkative as normal. (those of you who know me, realize what a major moment that is...) The emcee announced that we had managed to raise almost $3 million and talked about the pedicabs that would be pulling young cancer survivors and current cancer fighters. It felt like forever and like no time at all before the start of the race. I walked in the blob of people to the start line, hit start on my endomondo, and I was off. Austin is such a great city! People came out just to watch, businesses on the race route opened their doors and blasted music for us, even the police officers cheered as we went by. The course itself was full of hills, bad me for not checking on that before the race. I did not train for hills so they kicked my ass. I even had to stop and walk on a few of those uphill treks. I ran the whole first half, took a quick walk break at the half point hydration station, then ran/walked the next 2K. I ran, really pushed, for the last 0.5K to the finish. I happened to catch Kelly and Isabella standing on the sidelines cheering for me, it was the perfect push to haul booty for that last bit. I came in at 48.10, almost 2 full minutes faster than my goal time!!
I am so proud of myself. I did this all by myself. Now, that's not to say that I didn't have LOTS of supports along the way, I have the best friends and family. But no one else trained for me,no one else had to drag themselves out of bed at 5 am or run in 100+ heat or stop after half a mile wheezing and disappointed, no one else dropped 20lbs. I was the one at the starting line, and I was the one who ran in to the finish line. I got the idea of running this race for my friend's mom and I did run for her. (see the whole story, and feel free to donate still: 2010 LIVESTRONG Challenge- Austin- Nomi) Somewhere along the way, this became about more than honoring Cathy. I'm not sure when it happened, but somehow this adventure became about me growing into myself. I've been able to claim a new label, now I'm a runner! I've also proven to myself that I can do it. Whatever 'it' is, I can handle it. It may not always be easy, I may not be able to handle every training run...but I can handle the race. What I realize now is that I am stronger than I thought I was, I am tougher than I thought I was, and best of all, I like the me I've discovered. Now I'm off to research running shoes. Brian promised me a new pair after my race!!
