London's Run 2012

I have been a race slacker. Training takes a lot of time and if I commit to something, I want to do it better than before. I injured myself after my last half over a year ago, managed to heal up to Ragnar at the end of February and shortly after that summer was here and my running tapered off as I was forced onto a treadmill for the very long Arizona summer. Honestly, I didn't WANT to know how fast or slow I was. My very favorite running partner wanted to run Shun the Sun again in November, so we started up a training program, but I wasn't completely on board. I was just enjoying running for the sake of running and wasn't sure I could handle my own mental pressure. Then, as luck (??) would have it, I was on my death bed 2 weeks before the run and there was no way I was going to be ready. I took our kids up to cheer on Rickie and had to hold back the tears as I watched her run in. I could remember all the emotions you feel at the very end. The exhaustion. The excitement to see your family. The desire to be DONE! I was especially choked up when she set a new PR.

So when I got an e-mail from Michelle, who I *wish* lived here to be my running buddy -- she might give Rickie some competition as "favorite running buddy" (oh wait, or maybe *I* would lose out as favorite??), asking if Rickie and I were up for London's Run I was in. We trained. We ran. We ran a LOT. Usually between 30 and 35 miles a week, which can be a lot to fit in. The training had lots of speed work and I was feeling pretty fast, but I wasn't sure. 2 weeks before the race, Rickie and I ran our 13 miles to prep for it. It end up only being 12.9, but I ran it at 1:45. I was pretty excited since my time goal for this race was to hit under the 1:50 mark and I was pretty sure I could do it.

The night before we had a carbo load over at Brenna's house. The kids ran around and loved having Michelle's oldest, Abby, to play with. We talked about what to wear, what time goals we wanted to hit (Rickie was sure I'd hit under 1:45, but I didn't want the pressure). I love running a race with friends because it makes it much more of an event! We all drove over together the next morning and started out running together. I think I may have pushed myself a little too hard too fast because I lost Michelle and Rickie around mile 3. That was a long distance to run all by myself. I am such a social runner. I did get to run by Brenna when we joined up with the 10K runners for awhile. But by mile 8 I was all alone and a little sick of the dirt. It's a course all on farmland so there aren't really a lot of spectators and the runners had all thinned out. By mile 10 I had accidentally inhaled my gum and was dying of heat. I think the race temp was 65, which isn't bad, but I would have preferred a little cooler. I grabbed a cup of water at the aid station, threw it on my face to cool me off and realized moments later it was Gatorade.

Now usually when I get to the last 2 miles, I hit a great cruise speed, get in the zone and just turn it out. Instead I was hot, thirsty and sticky. I just keep going until mile 12 I got a horrible stabbing pain in my side. MILE 12?? Are you kidding me?? I thought I'd try walking for a minute to see if I could get rid of it, but it only made it worse. Now I could feel my jell-o quads and the stabbing wasn't going anywhere. I started jogging really slowly and finally the last half mile I looked at my watch and realized if I was going to hit under 1:45, I was going to have to book it. I literally sprinted the last quarter mile as I approached the finish line.
I could see my family and I almost started crying until I heard Luke SCREAMING for me. At that point I just started laughing and pushed through. Official time: 1:44:36. I was (and AM) so excited, but there's still part of me that is so mad at myself for walking. But I did it. I hit my goal! I am so grateful for girlfriends who push me to be better and support me in anything I try to achieve. I would never be doing this if I didn't have such a great running partner. Thank you Rickie! You make 10 miles on a Saturday morning something I look forward to (I'll miss you tomorrow - get better soon)!
I am especially grateful to my sweet family who always support me -- no matter what crazy thing I'm planning. Dustin got the kids ready in the morning so I could go on long runs during the weekdays and give up Saturday mornings together so I could run with Rickie. He even watched her kids one morning so I wouldn't have to run alone. Luke would get my running shoes and push me out the door when it was cold and say, "Mom, go runnin'." My sweet kids who were so excited for my race and gave up sleep on a Saturday morning. They made me signs. They sat at that finish line waiting for me. Nate even had so much faith in me, he made a bet with Daven over whose mom would finish first (the bet was for $8 -- that's a lot of money to a 7 year old).

I'm not the *fastest* girl in the world. I'm never going to win any awards or impress anybody, but my family thinks I'm great and that means I'm the *luckiest* girl in the world.