Sunday, March 12, 2017

Your First Time

You always remember your first time

Some of us thought about our first time for years- planning and thinking about how “it “would feel. For some of us, it just happened quickly without a lot of thought or prep.

You probably discussed it at great lengths with your friends- especially the ones that had already done it. Everyone had advice to give – all the different ways to do it- I had no idea? When the day came, you were excited and probably a bit nervous not truly knowing what to expect.

For some it was so quick, you barely stopped to breathe …but for some, you took your time and went slow- savouring every minute. Some of you bragged after it was all over and some of us just kept it to ourselves, quietly basking in the afterglow.

MY first time was special. I remember the music pumping around me and I could barely hear my partner next to me.  They looked at me and smiled and our hearts raced with excitement. THIS WAS IT! WE were really going to do IT! We had been talking about it and planning it for a few months and that moment was finally here. We had taken all the precautions to be safe.  They had more experience and had done it before, but for me- it was all new. I knew in my heart it was MY time.

We started off slow and my pulse began to quicken and my breathing became heavy.  I felt my body resist at first as I tried to keep up.  It wasn’t long before I was hot and sweaty and wanted to peel off the clothes already sticking to my body. We took our time and enjoyed the moment- we had to pace ourselves but there was no going back once we started.

When it was all over, we were so happy and that experience bonded us! I knew we would do it again someday and I couldn’t wait!


That was how I felt when I ran my first Tele10 race last year!! J

I remember standing behind the starting line in a sea of 4000 + people. The opening riff to Guns’& Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” was booming through the loud speakers and you could feel the excitement in the crowd. Everyone was ready to go. An air gun sounded and we were off!!  The large crowd all moving together, some running fast out of the gate and some swiftly walking behind the runners.

I ran it with my LTR buddy (she had walked it the year before) and we had trained for a few months with the LTR. I really didn’t know what to expect – the weather was sunny, then flash rain and then sunny again but that didn’t matter to us.
 Along the route we spoke to many people. There was an older lady whose family was pushing her in a wheelchair. There was a firefighter running with an oxygen tank on his back. There was a newly married couple running their first race together. EVERYONE had a story and I was blessed to hear some of them. On the sides of the road there was tremendous support- strangers cheering us all on! Signs of positive encouragement everywhere! The sense of community was overwhelming! Topsail road,the road that I drove down every single day to get to work was transformed - everything had a different perspective and I felt that tele10 wonder. PRC had a table set up along the route like a VIP lounge and someone passed me a small baggy of candy. I can tell you that nothing ever tasted as sweet as those few gummy bears and I greedily gobbled them in seconds!!


We did walk / run intervals and it took us over 2 hours. Not record breaking times but definitely proud to finish it! Crossing the finish line, we held hands and jumped like 2 fools! We had both worked so very hard, to lose almost 300 lbs between us-and learn to run… this was our victory lap!!

So as you start to think about goals for 2017, think about training and signing up for the 90th anniversary race of the Tele10  (July 23, 2017) If it will be your first time, I promise it will be special!  For most of you that have run it multiple times over the years, you are rock stars and are really “GOOD AT IT “by now so smile to yourself as you look back and remember your “first time.”

I will be “doing it “again this year J

-Robyn


***Now if you thought I was talking about something else in the beginning, go back and read it againJ

No comments:

Post a Comment