Now we had to choose a race! Carol and I had originally planned to meet halfway in Memphis, but we didn't think we'd be ready for a spring race. Then she hurt her foot and it was looking like it was just gonna be me, so I chose a race close to home - The Secret City Half Marathon in Oak Ridge in November - just a day before my birthday.
Rebecca was sweet to train with me - though we rarely ran together. Instead we just kept each other motivated to take longer and longer runs. Occasionally we ran together on the greenway near our house. I love this trail! Here we are on the trail by one of my favorite signs reminding us of what kind of exercise is really important:
I found that I actually enjoyed my long runs - I listened to books on tape, podcasts (True North Community Church and How Stuff Works were my favorites at the time), and kept a pretty slow pace. Along came October, and when I hit about 10 miles and felt like I was hitting a wall! Turns out most people drink water and take some nourishment at longer distances. I didn't want to carry water, but I planned a drink from the fountain on the greenway halfway through and bought some Gatorade energy chews to take along (once I figured out these were just high-priced candy, I switched to gummy worms). That did the trick.
The week before the race, Rebecca and I did a trial run. We ran the entire 13.1 miles together. I actually got a runner's high for the first time in my life! When I mentioned it to Rebecca, she wasn't feeling it and told me to shut up!
The day of the actual race, Rebecca just came along as my cheerleader and photographer. She even ran the first mile with me with her camera in hand! I was so glad that it didn't turn out to be cold, windy, or rainy (originally all three were in the forecast).
The rest of my family and a few friends followed me from a distance using an app called RaceJoy, which let me hear their cheers along the way. Terry was even able to time his cheer perfectly and played the theme from Rocky just as I was crossing the finish line!
All in all, it was a great experience! I didn't lose any weight and actually gained a few pounds right after the race (which turns out is typical as your body retains LOTS of water as it thinks you are literally running for your life). Oh well. Another bummer was the race T-shirt. It was obnoxiously ugly. If you don't believe me, look here:
I run mostly for heart health and cool T-shirts, but I also like running for causes. One cause I'd like to be able to support is the Race for the Cure - since my dear Mom died of breast cancer in 2012. However, I can't support an organization that gives huge donations to Planned Parenthood. There are other problems, which you can easily find out about by reading articles from a simple Google search. Here is just one - "Think Before You Pink."
So I have found a breast cancer organization that I support instead (there are plenty of others). If you'd like to join me, check out Lump to Laughter, a Christian organization that ministers to women with breast cancer.
