Monday, September 18, 2017

"We All Need A Little Help From Our Friends."

Yes, we sure do. From our Family too but my title seemed more catchy as a lyric of a song. Anyway, this is not my month to blog but I felt like maybe I should give everyone a little insight into the last few months of my training and Marathon run. When I decided to give this another go this year after completing it two years ago, I knew I was probably going to be in this one "alone" this time around. I say alone, but that was never entirely true.

I always run with the group on the weekends and we normally do a long run to keep the mileage up. When it comes to the Marathon plan though, you don't expect someone to tag along for a full 32 or 34K run. You just have to get a little creative about it. My mileage started to creep up on me when I headed back home this summer to spend a week with my family. Mom and Dad tagged along in their truck for one of my long runs while I was there. A couple of times when they were parked on the side of the road to wait for me, people actually stopped beside them to see if everything was ok. LOL  Knowing they were close by with extra water and could come to my rescue if I saw a bear, I enjoyed my 24K run. It was really nice to have them there with me on the run that day. For them to be a part of something that has become very important to me the past couple of years was kind of special. 

Once back in town, there were way more options for the longer runs ahead. I'm very lucky a 32K didn't fall on the schedule while I was in Bay d'Espoir! I was so happy that as I posted plans for the long runs, a lot of members from PRC joined me to share parts of them. It is so great to have people on your side, wanting to see you succeed in your training and giving you the extra push. We all need that sometimes. I'm very use to doing a lot of running alone but I love the company and conversations. It makes the run seem a little shorter. During training I even added K's to runs being done by other members of the group to get the distance I needed for that day. If you want something bad enough, you will find ways to make it work!

When I headed to the start line of the race yesterday I thought, OMG I'm going to run this alone! Can I do it? What was I thinking? Once I got close to the starting line, I saw other PRC buddies and had a few little chats before it was time to start. I knew once the race started I would be ok. I knew I would have some of my running buddies a little in my sight as they ran the half and relay races. I knew I would see people on the course too. The first loop of the HP is great. There are a lot of people and it keeps you motivated and going! The second loop sure gives you lots of time to reflect on every aspect of your life and then some! LOL That's why when someone catches up to you on the course and offers to be your running buddy for the final hardest 10K of the Marathon, you take it!

When Andrew caught up to me by Dominion, he was starting the final leg of the race for his relay team. When he offered to run with me I could hardly believe it. I wanted to say yes right away but all I could think about was his time and how it would affect his teams overall time. He had assured me it was no big deal but I knew I would soon be taking a few walk breaks as I was starting to get tired. I knew the last 10K wasn't going to be pretty and the pace would be much slower. I also knew that he wouldn't have offered if he didn't mean it.  It becomes a struggle within yourself to accept that kind of offer because you want everyone else to do their very best too. I pushed all of that aside and told him I would love the company! I probably will never be able to thank him enough. He certainly helped me get through the final stretch of the Marathon. I hope to someday get the chance to do the very same thing for someone else.

On our final push to the finish I gave everything I had! I don't really know where it came from but I dug deep. Crossing the finish line yesterday was amazing! I was overwhelmed by all of my friends standing there cheering me on! It was an amazing feeling. I wondered right away how all of them did with their own races! We all hugged and congratulated each other and do you know what? I surely didn't feel alone. Congratulations to everyone who ran yesterday! I hope everyone had a great race! I'll end now as I have done in the past with a quote that means a lot to me.

"We rise by lifting others" Robert G. Ingersoll


Tonia Kennedy