Sunday, April 25, 2010

Run to Remember

I have no pictures from today, yet I have plenty of memories. Justin and I both participated in the OKC Marathon - he did the half; I participated in the relay. Justin did VERY well, coming in 109th out of 430 people in his division with a time of 1:54!! He didn't really train, yet he can just go out there and bust out a great time for 13.1 miles. Amazing.

Now for my part. Ha. So, I joined a relay team with people I knew only by their relatives who are good friends of mine. I had no idea what my teammates looked like - just their names and a vague memory of their picture from the early 90's. Luckily we all had on matching bright green t-shirts. Best idea ever.

I was panicking the whole morning that I wouldn't make my shuttle on time and my teammate would be wandering around trying to find me. But, I made it in time, with even a few minutes to spare. I got super excited when they called my number over the loud speaker - my new friend from the bus and I both bugged out our eyes and said - that's me! It was time to start my journey!

When we were exchanging the ankle timer, I wanted to say, "Nice to meet you, how are you" and have a chat about his leg of the relay. But...I didn't think that was probably the best time to do that. So off I went on what seemed to be the longest run of my life.

And it was. Granted, it was only a 5K but I have never run that before. I have maxed out at 2 miles...and that was with pushing a stroller and definitely not timed. My adrenaline pooped out on me about 10 minutes into the run and I walked a bit more than I wanted to. People were swarming past me and I felt a little deflated, but I knew I was going to do my part no matter what. I then saw a sign from a spectator that said "We run to remember." It hit home and helped my adrenaline perk back up.

My personal time was 43 minutes but my team overall rocked it and came in 46th out of 288 in our division. I don't think it hit me until I was on the stinky bus on the way back to downtown that I had just participated in something amazing. Already I want to make plans for next year - whether it be part of a relay team or just doing the 5k downtown or even just running around to different parts of the race to watch people go by - I want to be a part of it!

I had so much fun today - from waking up at 5 am, battling traffic & masses of people, attending the pancake breakfast with friends, making new friends on the bus, running the most tiring run of my life so far, getting a medal and having my hubby tell me how proud he was of me - it was all SOO worth it and definitely a Run to Remember.

3 comments:

Kayla said...

good job girl!!

Elizabeth Mullins said...

Great job!

Katie B said...

I am so proud of you too! You did such a great job and definitely stepped outside of your comfort zone when you said you would join the team. I am so glad to hear Justin was proud-- he should be! And he should be proud of himself too. . . he and Ryan should run the half together next year and you and I can tackle the 10k, okay? :)