Days until the Kentucky Derby Marathon: 39
This blog is a special one. This weekend I went down to Sarasota for the First Watch Sarasota Half Marathon. I went down and stayed with Jen for the race. Saturday night Jen and her whole family, me and Kathleen and her husband met for dinner at Pei Wei. It was great to have two of my favorite cancer survivors (remember Kathleen is a 14 year Lung Cancer survivor) get to finally meet each other. It was a nice evening sitting outside on the patio talking and enjoying each other's company. After dinner Jen and I got all our race day stuff together before heading to bed.
The race started and we took off towards the Ringling Bridge and St. Armand's Circle. We ran some intervals and walked up the bridge together. Leah, her mom, and Carolyn took off for a very speedy half, and Kathleen and Amy ran a pretty nice race together. Jen and I worked our way out to the circle and back. What was great about this was seeing all the Sarasota runners that she knows, and all of the Orlando runners that I know along this part of the course.
Somewhere along the way we started walking alot, but were keeping a pretty awesome walking pace! Around mile 9 near Ringling the the 3 1/2 hour pace group leader passed us, but there were still lots of people behind us. Slowly, those people started to pass us by. Jen's goal had been not only to finish this race, but also to not be the last finisher, so I promised that I would let her finish in front of me! By mile 10 or so, we were the end of the race and the pace bus was right behind us. I had a little chat with the bus driver and informed him that we WOULD be finishing so he needed to not pick us up. Everyone in the bus (mostly medical staff I think) was great and encouraging and said that they were just there to make sure we were ok and that they would let us finish. After a quick joke about the driver enjoying his view (I was wearing some pretty sweet Nike tights), Jen and I kept walking. There were some emotional moments along the way, and I do remember saying to her "You have been to Hell and back this year - what's a few more miles?" Around mile 11, two of Jen's friends came and walked with us for a half mile or so. At mile 12 girls from my training pace group started to slowly meet us with us. First Leah and her mom, then Kathleen, then Amy, Chris, and Patrick, and then Carolyn. I am tearing up right now just thinking about how I spend hours and hours of my life with some of the greatest and most supportive people. These ladies had already run 13.1 miles of their own, and walked a mile back to support me and my best friend that they barely knew. I cannot begin to say just how wonderful they are and how I am forever grateful to them for that final mile.
Finally, we turned the corner and saw the finish line. Jen's husband, kids, and parents were there waiting for us. All my friends sort of drifted away, I took Jen's hand and we ran in the last tenth of a mile. We crossed the finish line together, hand in hand, and a minute and a half before the time limit of the race. After crossing the finish line panels Jen turned and asked if we were really done or if we had to go any further. I assured her that yes, we were done and we had a big hug and some tears. Later we checked the results, and although we may have crossed that finish line last, 2 girls must have started the race before us because their chip times were slower than ours, so Jen's goal is technically achieved - we weren't totally last! This was no easy accomplishment for Jen. It hurt, and she was (and still is!) sore. I am amazed at her strength and determination to attempt this race and be able to finish it. She's only 4 1/2 months out of chemo and 3 months out of radiation. Before yesterday she'd only ever been able to run 3 miles. I hope as the pain and soreness goes away she looks back fondly and with a very proud heart. I love her and am so incredibly proud to call her my best friend.
