A week ago today the weather was quite different. Overcast, kind of rainy at times, muggy but chilly, just crap weather. Despite the gloom the clouds cast, the spirit of the day was excited, proud, optimistic, and grateful. 19 May 2013 Fredericksburg, VA, I ran my first half marathon. That's right folks, I pushed this tush 13.1 miles and up the longest and most aggravating hill known to mankind. The Marine Corps Historic Half was an experience not to ever be forgotten.
I, being a novice runner, had invoked the help of my crazy older sister earlier this year. She's kind of, how do you say... awesome? She's run 8 marathons so far and I don't know if she's ever even counted the half's. I ran (sorry, bad pun) into lots of my own obstacles on my way to this distance-severe anemia, severe allergies that triggered asthma (damn northeast), and just generally being out of shape. She guided me along, helping me figure out nutrition and ways to increase my mileage, and how to not push myself too far (something else common in my family-we're Clydesdales, we'll go until someone tells us to stop). So, after the events in Boston, and me being paranoid and feeling guilty for possibly risking my family's safety just to see me fall over the finish line, I asked my sister to come with me (because you know, risking her safety was OK-she could out run the danger, I was sure of it). Also, my daughter had lacrosse games all weekend.
Down to VA we trekked, and had quite a pleasant car ride (we rarely get a chance to really talk). She guided me through the expo where I had to pick up my race packet with my bib, etc. I was like a little kid that was thrown into Disney for the first time-wide-eyed and overwhelmed, felt like a sugar high without the obligatory Pixi Stix and Jolt cola. She was giddy-GIDDY. I'm not sure I've ever seen her giddy before. We checked out the vendors, spent some money, and decided to go get dinner. I was nervous, but not horribly nervous. Which was odd. I get nervous at the thought of making a phone call, now here I was, new to distance running and running with THOUSANDS of other people. Why wasn't I curling up in the corner? I think it was her energy. She was so excited and confident IN ME that there was no real room for worry.
We get up in the morning, get ready for the run, eat, and we're out the door. We got to the starting corrals and we agreed upon a point along the course that she would meet me, got a stranger to take a picture of us together, hugged me, screamed with excitement a little bit, and off she went.
Now it was just me. People watching and feeling rather invisible-which was a good thing for once. It made me realize that no one there was going to care how fast or slow I was, or if I ran like Phoebe from FRIENDS (yeah, you know what I'm talking about). It was a comfortable feeling. The military presence was overwhelming, but not in any bad way. It felt safe, felt right. Lots of Marines, everywhere. Definitely no problem with that. They gave the invocation and then played the national anthem. That was when I almost burst out into tears, but I didn't want to risk not being able to breathe as I ran because of the excess snot from crying. There were Marines in each time corral. The one in mine happen to be standing only about two feet away from me, directly in front of me. Such a young man, maybe 20ish, as soon as the first note played he turned sharply and saluted the flag that hung to the left of us. He never wavered, he never looked away from that flag, he didn't move until the last note of music stopped playing. This young man didn't know me, nor I him, but if called, he would go and lay down his life to protect mine. It was an overwhelming feeling of awe and gratitude. I was actually at a loss of words (shocking, I know).
BOOM. Canon is fired and we're off. We slowly move forward, and then before I know it, I'm running. At first I was just looking around for my sister wondering how I'd ever see her with all the people who were lining the street. Pure adrenaline. Then I saw her, just a short distance into the run. She was cheering for me like I was One Direction and she was 13 again. It wasn't put on, or fake joy-it was that giddiness I saw the night before. It was immediately infectious. We high fived and quickly exchanged our next meet point and off I was again. I was fascinated by the course, the people, everything around me as I ran. What amazed me most were the people that were out cheering us on. At first I thought they were just friends and families of the runners, but then I realized as we passed through some quite beautiful neighborhoods, they were just random people standing out in the rain cheering for us. At every street crossing, closure, corner, water station, etc. there were Marines lined up cheering us on, handing out water and Gatorade and from the first ones I saw cheering for US, I felt it seemed backwards. We should be cheering them on as we passed. Full fatigues, in the rain, cheering on a bunch of silly runners. So when I had enough breath, I would shout "Thank you!" to them as I ran by. Then I saw a young lady just a short ways in front of me. She was a recovering cancer patient and I noticed her because every Marine she came upon, she would stop and shake their hands. It was an amazing show of the human spirit in one little gesture from one person. I think I smiled up until about mile 9.
Found my sister again around mile 5.5 and she began to run with me. Just because. She was like my own little guru spurring me on. Her energy was contagious and beautiful. We laughed and posed for the photographers along the course, she renewed my energy like a shot of speed. We admired the cute shops along the downtown part of the route, she relayed messages from my hubs to me and I back to him (remember kids-only professionals can text and run-don't try this at home). Then at mile 8, she left me to get to our next meet point. Started to get tired by mile 9, because it seemed like the LONGEST mile ever. She met up with me again at mile 10, which is where "The Hill" began. Two miles of nothing but uphill. I mean CONSTANT UPHILL RUNNING. She boosted me up, kept my spirits up as I took it in pieces, even though my legs wanted to fall off. She was positively bubbling over with excitement. Mile 11, she asked if I wanted her to stay with me or go ahead to the finish. I told her to go ahead so that she could be there when I finished, so off she ran. There was no other way for her to get to the finish except to run the rest of the course! So, that's what she did. All to be there for me. She conquered the rest of the hill and positioned herself in the crowd and waited. Just for me.
I struggled through to mile 12 and then pushed myself to run, no matter what, that last 1.1 miles to the finish line. People were passing the opposite way, wearing their medals, having already finished. They clapped and cheered us on as we passed. The finish line was now in sight. Then I see her-screaming and jumping up and down, I couldn't help but smile and scream a little myself. When I say her enthusiasm was infectious, I'm talking Bio hazard level 4, Ebola infectious. She whipped out her camera, shouting something I couldn't hear, so I just made faces and smiled as I ran past and finally over the finish line.
She came around and almost tackled me with hugs! I was sweaty and smelly but she didn't care at all. She hugged me so tight and just kept telling me how proud of me she was. I told her I couldn't have done it without her, but she didn't believe me. Her excitement, joy, enthusiasm and belief in me is what kept me going. I have never run that far before in my life. The longest distance I've done was 10 miles. I couldn't believe that I was smiling through most of the run. The whole atmosphere of the race and everyone in it was beyond amazing. Then, to have her there boosting me up, running even though she didn't have to run at all, she made me feel like I belonged there, like I deserved to be there with all these people who were "true runners". She believed in me, more than I could have ever believed in myself. I really could not have done it without her. She was my driving force, and I'm so thankful to have her in my life and as an inspiration. I am proud to say that I'll be running the full Marine Corps Marathon (that's 26.2 miles!) with her in October! My first, her tenth. I'm already excited and it's still 5 months away! This is how amazing she is-she makes 26.2 miles of running EXCITING. I feel like a REAL runner now, I've accomplished something. You know how first impressions are lasting impressions, well, she made the lasting impression of that achievement a wonderful one. She impacted something deep within me, dare I say, in my soul. She made me feel proud of myself and what I've done and that I SHOULD be proud of what I'd done. She made me feel worthy of those cheers (though I still feel backwards about the Marines cheering us on).
So here's proof that I finished (trust me, it's real-I don't know how to work photo shop)
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