Sorry it has been so long since I have written! I am swamped with the end of the school year, but I have been meaning to write this post for a while.
On April 6, Jesse and I participated in the Race for Grace in Grand Island. We had a great time, and we ended up being really proud of our finishing time. But before I get to that, let me tell you the story of our run.
We arrived at the starting line shortly before the gun went off. I was pretty anxious to start moving. I had a couple dreams about running this race, and I wanted to do well, especially considering the last time I ran a race, a 5K, I was able to run the entire time. I was also excited that this race was the first I had run that was being officially timed.
It was a fairly cool morning, which was nice, but it started sprinkling as we crossed the starting line. I was about ready to start cursing the sky, but the rain let up pretty quickly, and I barely even felt the few drops that did fall.
The first couple miles of the race went really well. I kept a fairly steady pace and let Jesse know when I needed to slow down for a while. At the water stop at mile 2, I decided to walk for a minute, but I was determined to start running again as soon as I could catch my breath.
Mile 3 seemed to go on FOREVER. I kept wondering when it would end. At one point, I was about ready to give up and start walking, when I looked down and spotted one of the road plaques honoring a cancer survivor or a loved one who had died from cancer. The sign read "In Memory of Shirley," and I thought of my grandma who passed away when I was 13. I decided to keep running.
Then as we were running through some neighborhoods, we ran over some chalk drawings on the street. Most of them were cute pictures drawn by kids or inspirational phrases such as, "You can do it!" but the one that really caught our eye was the proclamation of "Beer is near!"
Finally we reached the Mile 4 marker and the next water stop. As we grabbed our cups of water, we could hear the words of Bon Jovi loud and clear over the radio. "Ohhhhh, we're halfway there! Ohhhh, livin' on a prayer!" Alright, we were more than halfway there, but the song definitely gave us a nice energy boost. I grabbed Jesse's hand. "Take my hand. We'll make it, I swear!"
After that, my memory starts to get a little hazy. But there is one memory from the race that Jesse and I will likely never forget. We passed by a house with a sign on the driveway. "I am a cancer survivor! Thank you for running!" Most everyone simply smiled at the sign and ran past, but Jesse stole a quick glance at the window on the front of the house. There sat an elderly woman watching the race from her living room. She caught Jesse's eye, smiled widely, and started waving. He waved back, and when I looked over, I started smiling and waving, too. It was such a wonderful moment, and it reminded my why I was in this race.
Mile 6 went fairly quickly. I felt as though I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then, when we rounded a bend and could actually see the finish line, we really ran. Jesse took off ahead of me and ended up finishing the 6.2 miles in 1:13:58. I was close behind at 1:14:29.
 |
| Credit: Sonya Schultz Photography |
As I met Jesse at the finish line, he picked me up and swung me around. I had tears in my eyes. I was so proud that we finished a 10K and that we had finished in under 1:15! Especially when I had simply been hoping to finish in under 1:30. I was proud of myself for pushing through the tough parts of the run, and I was proud and glad that Jesse was by my side (nearly) the whole time!
Next up: the Lincoln Half Marathon. You can track our progress on May 5 here: http://www.mtectracking.com/Mtrack?raceid=43!
Until then,
Amy
