Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

1/2 Marathon down, 1 Marathon to go!



Well! I finished my first 1/2 Marathon today and what a beautiful day for it! Here are the stats:

There were 60 finishers in the Female 35 to 39 age group and 868 finishers in the 1/2 Marathon division.

My overall finish place was 611, in my age group finish place was 28 and my gender finish place was 235. My time 2:20:23.89 gave me a 10:43 pace per mile.

My 3M time was 31:09.85 for a pace of 10:23 per mile
My 6M time was 1:02:55.03 for a pace of 10:35 per mile
My 10M time was 1:46:23.53 for a pace of 10:52 per mile

I finished and I had such a great time with friends and family that were there to cheer me on! Thanks to those that cheered me in spirit wish all of you could have been there too!

I was introduced at the awards ceremony and had my letter about Johnathon read to the crowd. It was so awesome to be recognized for doing what I have set out to do. I feel like Johnathon has touch so many lives still and he continues to today, I am so happy that he was a part of my life if even for such a short time. He has helped me spread the word about Childhood Cancer even 10 years after he has left he lives on still through stories and spirit.

I feel more motivated than ever and feel so blessed to have the friends that I do that support me so much!

With each race and each time I talk about Johnathon I get that much closer to finding peace within myself and being able to finally find away to put all of this at peace within myself.

Thanks for sharing in my journey and allowing me and Johnathon into your hearts!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tears and Fears about 1/2 Marathon

So it is soon upon me that I will be running my first 1/2 Marathon. I feel completely unprepared and terrified! I feel like I am no where near ready and I feel sick to my stomach when I think about it.

So much has lead up to this point and I feel so overwhelmed at times. When the workouts are hard and I have a bad day I question whether or not I am going to be able to run a full marathon. I question myself and my courage. I question if I have set my goals too high. I get scared.

Then I remember the courage that my son showed everyday of his very short life. I remember the courageous face I had to put on every time I walked into that hospital. I remember holding back tears so that my son would never see me cry. I remember never showing how scared I was, and I was scared, very scared.

Then I remember why I started all this, to just remember and honor my little boy! I'm scared I will be honest with you there. But I will do it and I will finish and then I will work toward the next race and the next one until I find myself in Chicago with thousands of others running for their own causes and memories. Running for their own healing or soul searching, running to run.

I have so much love and support from all of you that at times that is enough to get me out of bed and on the road. But some days are easier than others, some days I just want to "give up".

But Johnathon never gave up, he fought to the very end, he never gave up, he just had to let go.

On Saturday I will be introduced at the Dismal Swamp Stomp and my story told of why I am running.

Please try to join me there for this big day, and if not please pray for me to have the strength and courage to complete this race.

My story was published on the Dismal Swamp Stomp press page here is the link.

http://www.dismalswampstomp.kalerunning.com/press_releases.html