Ok… I am going to keep it real. I signed up for this event 2 years ago. Last year I didn't have anyone to do it with and hadn't trained like I had hoped so I postponed till the next year. Well, this year I felt I was prepared, I had recruited my good-dear friend Kim to run it with me and she recruited her sister Camille as well. I had backups in place. Well… again, summer hit and my training slowed and finally stopped. A month ago I tried to postpone the event again but I had waited too long and couldn't. I was going to just pick up my goodie bag and chalk it up to me just not being motivated enough. Well… Kim and I have both been busy and seeing each other had gotten more and more difficult. I had gone out of town to my parents for the weekend and Saturday I got "the" text from Kim "R u coming out to support my sis & I tom. @ girlfriends???" well, at first I was trying to figure out how to explain that I was out of town and then I started thinking about how I could go and support, but then I thought "why don't you try?"
– so I texted Kim back and asked if she was walking it (we were going to run it when she signed up), she said that they were going to walk it and I thought I could maybe try to do a few miles. I hadn't been working out and had JUST started over again with my weight loss. Kim had arranged to have our friend Shari support her and her sister since Shari had an injury and could participate as planned. So, Shari was going to be at miles 3, 6, 10 so if I couldn't make it, I could jump in the car with her. Well… here is how it all went.
I woke up at 6am to get dressed and head to the start because I needed to pick up my race packet. Race starts at 9am so we went to starbucks and enjoyed a coffee and bagel. We had some time to just relax in the car near the start and went to the bathroom. I met up with my girls just before 9amand we waited for the start. We saw some people from church (Sidney and Shelea) and we were off. We started in downtown Vancouver, walked down to the water (under the interstate bridge) and along the water on Columbia way. At mile 2 we see the first place runner on the other side of the street (she was on mile 7 – WOW!) @ mile 3 we saw Shari, we dropped some stuff with her, got a snack and back on the road. We walked and talked along the water. The sun was finally out and layers were no longer needed. At winter park we turned around and headed back to Fort Vancouver. At this point I broke away, running/walking and hit a bathroom. I saw the ladies one last time at mile 7 when I broke away for good (after taking some ibuprophen). Once we crossed under the railroad tracks and headed through Fort Vancouver Historic district (mile 9) the race got increasingly more difficult, my feet were started to throb from the pain and my chest started hurting. I was reminded to take big deep breaths which did fix the chest pain, but nothing would help my poor feet aside from sitting. I did spurts of running to get the pressure off my feet and to get through the race faster. At mile 10 I only stopped for some body glide (thanks to Shari) for my bra because it started chafing. Then off again. 3.1 miles to go and I was almost out of energy. I turned on my iPod and gospel music got me through. Between mile 11 and 12 there was the only real significant hill, it was about ½ mile long and at this point felt like torture. I knew I was getting close to the finish and quitting by now was NOT an option. I would have finished even if my legs fell off. There were lots of spectators cheering us on and it was encouraging. When I got to downtown, I saw Jake and a smile easily came as I could see the finish! It was a wonderful feeling. I did it, 3 hours 48 minutes. WOW! Next year I hope to shave 30 minutes off my time. This race is my new favorite, the support was amazing and honestly, I couldn't have finished if it weren't for Shari's mileage support. This is now a MUST HAVE!
A special thanks and shout out to Camille, If it weren't for you I wouldn't have done it and I am so grateful!! Thank you!
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