Aim For The Finish Line

What an amazing weekend!  The weather, the event, the activities before and after, the support of teammates and most importantly the support and time spent with the love of my life.  I couldn't ask for anything more.  I keep looking at the pictures as they are posted on various sites... I grin and my heart swells with gratitude for all my blessings.

Friday evening we arrived in Savannah and rushed to the race expo to grab our race bibs and swag.  The weather is perfect - 70's with a light breeze,  Returning to River Street, we sat on the upper decks of the ferry basking in the sun and enjoying one of the last perfect fall days we'll experience before winter hits the south.  We grabbed a beer and walked down the cobblestone street listening to musicians and grinning like only those truly content can do.

The team dinner was inspirational.  This event raised just under $500,000 for the American Cancer Society.  The Atlanta team, I'm proud to say, raised $120,000 of that.  We were all jazzed up and ready to go, excited to finally be in Savannah and achieving all the goals we set for ourselves back in June.  On a cool side note, one of our guest speakers was Andi Powell.  I spoke to her for a little bit afterwards.  She's very sweet and passionate about life... and she's Sasha in the next Twilight movie.  That should impress my kids.

I went to sleep early Friday night.  Determined to do nothing to effect my race the next day.  Clothes were laid out, accessories placed next to the clothes.  The morning was forecast to be chilly.  Layers were put together.  Hand warmer packages (thank you Target for $1 deal) put with my phone and Gu next to my running belt.  I was... READY!

I spent alot of time before the race talking to one of my new friends and teammates.  It was her first race ever... first time she'd ever run in her life was when she began training for this event.  She was nervous so I was giving her the pep talk and telling her to just ENJOY... take it all in.  Another teammate told her not to think about why she was there til after she crossed the finish line... that he'd done that a few months back in another race and started hyperventilating and nearly passed out... I thought to myself that "I'm not one to hyperventilate, thank god, but good advice Kevin..."

As the sun came up and the racers gathered in their corrals I was grateful for so many reasons.  To be there.  To know that I could do this race.  To have the love of my life by my side running it with me in support of me and my need to fight cancer with every event I can.  Until there's a cure I will not step off this soap box.   I was (and am still) so proud of my teams efforts, in fundraising and in training to do this run. 

Our wave finally is released and we're off.  Each mile I'm looking at the official clock and smiling.  My goal is to finish this race without stopping, and with a 10-11 minute mile pace.  My 5k split is 30:52.  That's a pace of just under a 10 minute mile... My 10k split is 1:03:21... a 10:16 minute mile pace... (and better than my Peachtree race)... Around mile 8-9 my right knee starts to give out.  I feel it and tell my sweetheart and keep going.  Focusing on the event and the run but keeping a mental eye on what's happening in that knee... Praying that I will not be forced to stop.  At 10 miles I'm at 1:46... I'm still managing under an 11 minute mile pace by a hair.  I lost my pace the last two miles.  Especially mile 12.  I'm apologizing to my sweetheart as I'm grimacing and continuing to run.  I tell him to just talk.  I need to hear his voice and focus on it.  He points out the moss in the trees.  The people rooting for us.  That we are almost there.  I'm listening to this life line while I'm screaming in pain in my head and telling myself I WILL finish this.  I CAN do this.  PUSH!  I hear someone playing Wilson Philips "Hold on for one more day", and I try to sing the lyrics "I know that there is pain but ya hold on for one more day and break free from the pain"...  My left knee is starting to give because I've been babying my right knee for 4 miles and I know I'm in bad shape.

We get into the corral that will lead us to the finish line and as we turn into the final 100 yards and I see the finish line I think "OMG I MADE it... For all these people..."  and I start to hyperventilate like my buddy Kevin told Emily not to do... and I have enough brain power left in me to think "so this is what he was talking about"... while my boo is telling me "We're almost there, you've got to smile!  The cameras are going to be on you shortly..."  ok... camera's... finish line... breathe... I shake my head yes and thank god for my big glasses that are hiding my tears and I grab his hand as we run under the photographers and across the finish line... After we cross I jump onto him with a big hug of thanks and love and nearly collapse as my legs start to freeze and buckle...

We walk through all the water stations and I grab one of everything, knowing every bottle of water, Gatorade, or anything that resembles liquid handed to me will be downed in the next 20 minutes.  We look for the DetermiNation tent.  He sees it and I tell him I need to keep walking.  I know I can't stop yet.  I feel like I did after cross country in high school.  I know when a cramp is going to terrorize my calves if I stop.  We walk by a medical tent and he asks if I want to get my legs iced.  "I'm NOT going into a medical tent, I'm tougher than that"... and maybe a bit thick skulled but it was the principal of the matter.  My day is not ending with medics.

We hang outside the DetermiNation tent, basking in the sun, eating the yummy food provided and greeting people with big hugs as they make their way to the tent.  We are all thrilled for our accomplishments.  Now it's all about a glorious day in Savannah.  Our team has a trolley tour reserved and we're going on it.  We had a fabulous time with 30 members of our team and their families.  We're all one big family now, wondering which race to do next together.  I tell them about my two 5k's I have planned and I think I sold one or two people on them.  We laugh and joke as the tour guide shows us the best of Savannah... and as we get off the trolley we all look perplexed as our legs don't work right.  Not one of us walked down the stairs of the trolley without tremendous effort.  It was humorous... We grin and don't care... It's time for beer and dinner... and THEN maybe some ice on the legs when no one is looking.

The next day I put my 13.1 sticker that I've had since June on my bag... I earned it baby!  Go DetermiNation Team Atlanta and Go ME!

 post script:

 Race plans... I have two 5ks and a 15k planned over the next 3 months... They are all 'fun runs'...

Continuing the battle against Cancer...  My next event is Forsyth County's Relay For Life (also an American Cancer Society event)... I'm on the steering committee and I'm an honorary chairman...  I'll blog about that in the future...

 Peace Out!