Race Insight

As most of you know I have been trying to become a runner. I actually had a half marathon the last Sunday of April and it was fun but it wasn't my best.At the expo I met Ali Vincent from Biggest Loser. It was so nice to actually see in real life a person you watched struggle on TV and then celebrate when she achieved her goal. She's much shorter and smaller in real life and I was impressed that she could wear high heals the day before the race. She finished about not long before I did.

Shiloh and I met Ali Vincent!

My race wasn't my fastest but I did learn something from it. I forgot my food for along the race and only ate a banana at the beginning so it overall didn't  go as as well as it could but I also chose to walk more than I normally would so I could stay for awhile with my cousin and friend who due to injury was not running the race. She and I did run parts of the last half of the race and we finished in 3 hours and 26 minutes. But I had some insight into the running community. The original plan was for E, C, S (E's friend) to all do this race (at our own paces) and have a girls weekend. E and S are part of a running group called "Mom's Run this Town". This group is all over the country but their chapter is out of Savannah and so two more ladies joined E & S and then we all stayed at a hotel with three other ladies and had dinner with an additional two. All I can say is it was amazing to see the common bond that brought all of us together. There were some really fast runners and then there were the turtles working their way through peanut butter (me) but there was acceptance.

I don't like to run with groups because I am so slow and I need to walk and I just feel as though I'm holding people back but I had started running a few months prior with my friend Dana and it worked out well. She is a fast walker and would push me during the walking breaks and we tend to run at the same pace and we could chat about life. I saw that the Diva's Race weekend  with these ladies. And it was reassuring to me. Like any race you meet people along the way and you either usually find out where they are from and why they are running/walking and how many half's they have done. I usually find encouragement from these fellow travelers along the route. This race was no exception because E and I met a woman who was walking (and struggling) in the first 2-3 miles who along with 40 other women were participating in honor of their friend who had died from cancer and who had loved to do halfs  The husband of the woman they were honoring was the race coach for all these women and would stay with our girl for a mile then run back to encourage other runners and walkers. He didn't have a bike to go back and forth- just his feet. It was cool that that many women would come and take on that goal to honor their friend.

When we left her we came up on two of the MRTT ladies from E's group. They were just grooving along and having fun. I had met them the night before at dinner and they made me feel so welcome. My other cousin C fit in with the group because she's a mom to 7 kids but I don't have kids and not even a pet so I was the odd ball but they accepted me just the same. I even met a girl who grew up in Oregon and went to school at OSU!

At the start before the race. 

When I say I am a slow runner I really do mean it. I left E with the two MRTT ladies and started off and a few miles down the road E caught up to me and we were able to finish together. I was really inspired by her because for now she's not going to be able to run and may never run a half again because of an injury but she came and did this race and didn't complain. And she could complain and be on the pity party tour (If I was her, I might). She's injured and may never run again, her husband is deployed and it will be months before she sees him). But she has found joy even in her injury.   All of these ladies came to run the race but they have accomplished so much running (marathons and halfs) that I was impressed but just like my friend Stacey they don't brag about it's just who they are. And they are some really, really great runners who kick butt. They all have a quiet spirit about them when it comes to their accomplishments in running shoes or in life.

 I wasn't sure how I was going to write this blog but the lesson that I kept thinking about over the miles I drove this last week was that yes we train and work hard for the races and sometimes we are in it for the tech shirt or the medal but in the end it's about the people you meet along the way and fact that you are really running against yourself. It's you against the voice in your head that tells you can't do this or that someone like you shouldn't be out there. It's also you that is going to determine if you listen to that voice or if you tell it to shut the hell up and keep moving forward toward a goal. As E said today on Facebook  we have enough obstacles running or working toward our goals that we create ourselves that it's nice to have the people around you be supportive and allow you to go out and reach your goal and if you fail you have a place to land that is supportive. I realized that's what the running group is for. Yes it allows you to train with other runners and maybe push yourself but it also gives you a group of women who are encouraging you and sharing in your goals. That unlike society they don't want to tear you down, they want to lift you up and for two days I got to be apart of that.

Finished and we earned our medals!!!