Race day...

You may recall that in October 2010 I made the crazy decision to start training for a half marathon. I convinced my sister to train with me, we bought shoes and expensive socks, found a trail we liked and wouldn't get murdered on, and hit the proverbial bricks about 4 times a week.

Training went well, we got faster, stronger, it got easier...

In December my sister and I caught a cold, I got better hers lingered. She thought she got better took a weekend trip, came back and was sicker then ever. I may have missed a couple runs, but I kept up the training even without her. Two weeks before the race she was really sick, so sick that I insisted she go to Urgent Care. We went, they prescribed antibiotics, said she had bronchitis and essentially sent us home. Four days later (exactly one week before the race) she laid in bed, basically unable to breathe, panting for no apparent reason. I demanded that we go back to urgent care, she resisted but eventually relented when I told her I would get the neighbor boys to come carry here from her bed to the car, if she didn't come on her own. The urgent care receptionist looked at my sister still unable to breathe and told me to take her directly to the ER.

Went to the ER about 1130am, by 8pm she was admitted and settled in her room with Pneumonia in both lungs and severe shortness of breath.

I sometimes forget how close my sister and I are. I always think that b/c I share more of the intimate details of my personal life with my friends that I am closer to them. But the reality is that there is no other person that I am closer to in this world then her, and it dawned on me as she laid there looking so weak and so sick. It was brutal, I had to keep reminding myself that she would get better and that healthy ppl of her age didn't die of pneumonia, regardless of how distressed her breathing was.

On the Monday before the race she asked her doctor if she would be able to participate in the marathon on Sunday, he laughed and said that really she shouldn't be doing much around the house.

She was in the hospital until Friday, sent home with oxygen tanks, follow up appointments, steroids, antibiotics etc. She is doing much better then she was, but still only a shadow of her former self. And now I faced the race alone, having missed my last long training run.

But I had paid for it, I had prepared for it, and I was going to do it.

So I did! 13.1 miles. 3.5 hours. Dead Ipod. Rocks in shoes. Alone. But I did it. I didn't stop and rest, I kept at it and I finished. I finished 15 mins better then I thought I might, and now that I finished this one, I think I'd like to do it again to be a bit more competitive.

During the race I was having mini competitions with ppl near me, "I will beat this old lady", "I can beat these ppl", etc. I would pick a point in the distance and run to there, it really was a mind over matter challenge. And since I had no ipod it really was just me and my mind.

I just kept focusing on the end in sight and the fact that I would be so proud once I accomplished it. And sure enough it felt like quite the feat when I ran over that finish line.

Every piece of food I ate directly following and every drink I had right after was THE MOST wonderful think I had ever tasted, or drank. I was STARVING after the race, my wonderful friends met me at the finish line, cheered me on and took me to breakfast. The friend who got this whole ball rolling ran the race with me, and by with me I mean she finished an hour earlier cause she is a rock star!

I truly missed my sister crossing that finish line with me, but she is feeling much better and getting more like herself everyday. She is crossing her own finish lines daily, and that honestly is the better, bigger accomplishment as far as I am concerned.

Thanks all for all the support, I'm planning on doing one or two more halfs this year so you all will be hearing about it!