Alison's Final Blog - Wow.....It's over!

Wow.....It's over!

Let me first say that I had set a goal to run a marathon by the time I was forty.  When forty came and went, I kind of dismissed the idea because I thought it would just never happen.  When Stormie and I started talking about running a half, the urge came roaring back, and I was determined to do one.  Better late than never, huh?? 

February, 26th, 2012, a day we five women will not forget any time soon. The weekend started with JB, Lisa, Mitzi and I heading down to Fort Worth on Friday night so we could spend the night there, and have all day Saturday to enjoy the city. We ate at Cheesecake Factory then headed to the hotel for a good night's rest, or so we thought! Yours truly has suffered from panic attacks in the past, but I haven't had one for quite some time.  At around 2:30 AM, I had one!  I tried to get up out of bed quietly, to walk it off, but when I started to feel myself passing out, I knew I should say something to the girls so they would know why I was falling to the floor. I have never seen three women fly out of bed so quickly!! Mitzi grabbed a cold wash cloth to put on my forehead and called my name I think at least 20 times to make sure I was still coherent.  I finally was able to pick myself up off of the floor and climbed back in to bed.  I asked the girls to talk to me to keep my mind off of the attack, so they started singing George Strait songs to me ( I love George Strait). JB needed a little help, she was singing Amarillo sky instead of Amarillo by morning. That's okay, I appreciated the effort.  Mitzi even grabbed my hand and rubbed it for me at one point, because I told them that is what Clay would do for me to help me through it. Do I have great friends or what!?! Needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep that night.

Stormie came in on Saturday, so we all went to the expo to grab our bibs and timing chips.  We were all really nervous.  Every time we would try to talk about the race, Lisa would make us stop.  We decided to drive the route, which was a big mistake! That is when we first learned that this marathon was full of hills....and I don't mean small ones.  I thought JB was going to pass out in the back seat.  Every time I looked at her she was shaking her head and saying cuss words.I believe she called Dawn and Anna a few choice names also for not warning us of these mountains we were about to climb.; We all knew that there was no way out, our family and friends were all there to watch, and we couldn't let them down.Sunday morning came early, as we all awoke at around 4:50. I couldn't believe what I was about to do.  I was terrified, but yet excited. I think I spent most of the morning in the bathroom.  But before I knew it, we were on the street ready for the gun to go off. Mitzi said a quick prayer for us, and seconds after, we were on our way.  It was so awesome to see Anna, Dawn, Maria, JB's family, my family and everybody else holding signs and wishing us luck.  We got off to a great start as we all felt really good. At mile 4 1/2, JB fell.  I couldn't believe it.  She fell, and fell hard! She could hardly get up, and I could tell she just wanted to break down and cry.  But she is such a trooper, after walking just a little bit, she shrugged it off and started running again. What a champion!!  When I sit and think about different parts of the race, it is hard for me because it all seems to run together.  I remember my family giving me cough drops at around mile 6, and I remember a huge gust of wind knocking JB and I back at about mile 14. I know Stormie started struggling at some point, but not sure when that was. She was hurting pretty badly but she never once said " I can't". She knew in her heart she was going to finish this race, and she did!  And then, I remember my husband, Clay, at mile 26 with the sign that said "we are no longer runners, we are marathoners!".  What a feeling that was!! The three of us ran across the finish line, hand in hand, like we had planned, and all I could think was "we finally did it!!!!" I really thought I would cry when I finished, but all I felt was pride.  And I was so glad that my mom and dad were there to witness it. Mitzi and Lisa didn't train like we did, so they made the decision to walk some of the race.  They did awesome!!!  When they came around the corner before the finish line, Mitzi was jumping up and down with excitement, and Lisa had tears rolling down her face.  I'm not sure if they were happy tears or tears from pain, but she was running across the finish line.  I can't believe they ran a marathon with only 3 weeks of training.  If that is not determination, I don't know what is.

I know in my heart that I could not have done this without the support of all of the Wellington runners!  Thank you so much for all of the words of wisdom, goodie bags, emails, texts, phone calls....everything.  I love you all more than you know!!  And a HUGE thank you to my family, for their patience and support during all of those training days. I know they got so tired of hearing me talk about running.  I love you!!

So now, we are finished with all of the training, and worrying, and analyzing.  We no longer plan all of our meals around what run we are doing that particular evening. We now get to go home after a day of work, and cook a meal for our family.  Hmmm....bitter sweet.  I kind of miss it already!
- Alison