Life's A Race. How Will You Finish?

The Beginning. It all began back in October 2009.  I had the priviledge of running a relay marathon with some family and friends in Kansas City.  My portion was about 6 miles.  It was a great experience.  My cousin, Annie, who was on my relay team, ran the 7 mile leg.  We all had a great time.  But, I got to thinking, 6 miles is only a half mile shy of halfway of the half marathon.  A lot of "halfs" I know.   I was visiting with Annie about this....then I started to push her to run a half marathon with me. I thought I was unsuccessful in convincing her of this, but a couple of weeks later, she emailed me saying she wanted to do it.  Even though I originally approached her, I was actually reluctant to agree, because I knew that I would have to train harder than I had ever trained before. However, Annie and I agreed we'd register to run the Half Marathon in the 2010 Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon.

The Training. Annie lives two and a half hours away from me, so we had to train seperately.  Fortunately, I had another "runner" friend, Pam, who agreed to help me train.  We agreed we train on our own throughout the week, but would plan to do several long runs along the way.  And that is what we did.  I was in the gym at least 4 days a week running on a treadmill.  I also decided that running 13.1 miles would be much easier if I were a few pounds lighter, so I joined Weight Watchers to add some structure to my diet.  Pam and I ran our first "long" run, which was only 6 miles. Then 6 soon turned into 10.  I never in my life thought I would be able to run that far.  I was so proud of myself, but I hurt so badly.  Usually the pain sets in the next day, but around mile 8, I could feel the pain from my calves clear up to my shoulders.  Afterwards, I sat down and decided to eat a granola bar to refuel......but it even hurt to chew!  That's right, MY JAW WAS EVEN SORE!

The Injury. My training was going very well, when my biggest fear happened - I injured my foot.  I felt this excrutiating pain on the outer side of my left foot.  I was so worried because the race was only two and a half months away and I still had lots of training to go (this happened before my 10 mile run).  I was so worried and disappointed because I knew I had to lay off it for it to get better, but that is what I did. I resorted to the stationary bike for two weeks while I let my foot heal.  Gradually, I started back training on the treadmill and the foot seemed healthy.  I even ran my 10 mile run shortly after with no problem.  But one day about 6 weeks away from the race, I felt that same pain again. I was so discouraged as I thought that I was not going to be able to run in marathon with Annie.  So I decided to lay off the training until the day of the race and hope I could make it all the way.

The Race.  Race day finally came around (it was actually 2 days ago)  I was optimistic I could finish the race if only my foot didn't start hurting.  Afterall, I was 20 lbs lighter and I had trained very hard. My cousin, Annie, and I stood in the crowd of runners for what seemed like an eternity, but then, sure enough, our race had begun.  Of all the miles we had run in our training, it all came down to the 13.1 we were about to run.....and our goal was simply to FINISH THE RACE.  We started out strong and excited.  I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't even notice the first mile marker.  But one mile soon turned into two, then three, and before we knew it we were at 6. Then I felt it.  The pain in my foot was gradually increasing.  "Oh no" I thought, "How am I gonna do 7 miles on a hurt foot?" But I decided to keep going.  We made it to mile 8 and I was really feeling the pain in my foot at this point.  But this was also the point that my running buddy, Annie, started having knee trouble.  WE WERE FALLING APART!  We stuck it out to mile 10 and then decided that it was in our best interest to walk a little.....but, we were still in the race.  About a mile later we picked back up, but making sure we took it easy.  I remember thinking, "I can't believe I've come this far on hurt foot.  We're gonna do it.  We're actually gonna finish this thing."  Soon enough, the finish line came in sight.  When we saw it, we kicked it gear running faster than we had the entire race.  Annie later said that at that point, the pain in her knee left her.  The same is true for my foot.  Before we knew it were were crossing the finish line.  I looked online at our times and Annie and I finished at the exact same time.  WE STARTED TOGETHER AND WE FINISHED TOGETHER!

The Lesson. We are all running our own race.  We are not competing against each other, but instead we are competing against ourselves.  One thing I learned throughout the training is that I am my own worst enemy. I struggled with eating healthy; I struggled with making it to gym every day.  My struggles had to do with my desire to please my flesh.  I wanted to eat burgers, fries, meat and potatoes instead of having portion control and eating more veggies and drinking more water.  I wanted to sleep, watch TV, or just be lazy instead of getting my butt in the gym.  And ever so often I gave into those temptations, but I never gave up.  Not even when I started to have complications with my foot.  Another thing I learned is this saying, "Why not me?"  I discovered that I was caught up in thinking about all the things I thought I couldn't do...."someone like me could never do (fill in blank)."  Throughout this process, I realized "Why not me?"  What makes others more special than me?  The conclusion I came to is "nothing."  I was and still am afforded the same opportunities as everyone else in this world.  The only thing holding me back.....was ME!  Next, I learned the importance of having a running buddy in this race we call Life.  Pam was my Paul/Accountability and Annie was my Barnabas/Encouragement.  Scheduling runs with Pam kept me motivated to keep training. I didn't want to meet up for our runs and not be able to keep up.  Running with Annie was super encouraging.  We supported each other.  With our injuries, we both probably would have folded if it wasn't for the encouragement we offered each other.  We need accountability and encouragement as we compete in our life-race.  We weren't meant to do it alone.  Lastly, I learned that we must have a goal in mind (i.e., the finish line).  When we can see the finish line, it is amazing what we are capable of doing.  And the feeling of crossing that line is something I cannot even begin to explain.

I hope that you took something away from my experience in running the half marathon.  We all have room to improve, but we must get excited about improving.  In other words, our motivation for improvement needs to come from self-love and positive thinking as opposed to self-hatred and negative thinking.  Good luck to you all as you run your life-race.