Wow! I still can't believe I finished a MARATHON! 26.2 miles, are you kidding me? I was told that less than 1% of the population has ran a marathon! That is crazy! The emotions I had before, during, and after were all over the charts!
First let me go back a few weeks prior to this huge event in my life! I told the girls I would NEVER, EVER run a marathon in my life!!!! They begged, pleaded and even tried to bribe me into doing this run! I held my ground......until Stormie sent out an E-mail! That E-mail changed my whole outlook on doing a marathon!
She was running for a cause and that cause was to raise money for the PPMD Organization to help find a CURE for muscular dystrophy, which as you all know is very near and dear to her heart! I got to thinking about HER reasons for doing this marathon, and for MY reasons for NOT doing this marathon! Stormie's were all selfless and mine were all selfish! Her's were to help find a cure for MD, to stop this dreaded disease that takes over the muscles of so many folks, young and old! Mine were, why would I want to run 26.2 miles? My muscles would be so sore, my feet would hurt, and oh my goodness...I might get a blister or two! Really? The pain that I would endure would go away after a few days, and the blisters would heal and I would be fine! I have two perfectly good legs (although they my be old legs) to be able to make that treck, where so many with MD only wish they could walk, run, jump & play!
So...with a little push from Mitzi, I agreed to do The Cowtown Marathon with the other MM's! That was about 3 weeks before the run! I know, crazy right? Not a lot of training! The furthest I had ever ran was 13.1 miles, and that was a year and a half ago! But Mitzi & I crunched the number's and figured if we ran the first half, walking through the water stops and ran/walked the 2nd half we could get it done before they closed the race course at 7.5 hours! We did just that....but our time exceeded our goals! We finished in 5 hours and 34 minutes! Talk about 2 excited girls!
We had tears, laughter and even anger throughout the journey! But we always kept in our mind the REASON we were doing this! His name is ETHAN! Right before the start gun went off we gathered together for a prayer and I don't think there was a dry eye in the group! Even after the prayer I had a tiny voice in my head telling me to "get out, don't do it, run & hide"! But then I had Mitzi telling me...."We got this"! And off we went to the cheers of about 23 family and friends that made the trip to Ft. Worth just to watch us run!
Running through the streets of Ft. Worth, seeing so many volunteers and spectators with great signs and words of encouragement was amazing! I saw a sign as we were hitting the home stretch that said RUN LISA RUN! Sure made me smile! I think the 2 best signs were, "Wellington Runners Do It For Donuts". (Which most of you know the background on that!) And right about mile 26, "You Are No Longer A Runner, You Are A Marathoner"! I still find that hard to believe!
The route was crazy! Lots of hills! YIKES! The one that scared us all to death was about a mile long, between mile 8 & 9! WHEW! About half way up Mitzi told me that we were going to make that hill our B#@*h! And for those of you that don't know Mitzi, she doesn't cuss much at all! That was funny! And let me tell you once we made it to the top and I caught my breath, I could laugh about it! Darn hill!
We ran through the stock yards, downtown Ft. Worth, the campus of TCU, where the sorority girls were sitting out on there front porch, in there robes, drinking coffee cheering us on! We ran through beautiful neighborhoods where folks were out in their yards, some handing out candy, muffins, fruit and encouragement! Oh, I can't forget the guys who were handing out ice cold beer about mile 24! And yes we had a drink! We needed the carbs! LOL! We ran through beautiful parks and along the river too!
About mile 14.5 my body was letting me know that it was NOT happy about all if the running! If it weren't for my running partner, Gu Chomps, Cliff Bars, Ibuprofen, and seeing our family and friends along the route to cheer us on, I'm not so sure I would of made it!
Here is where the anger came into play! I just wanted to be DONE! I just kept repeating, finish, finish, finish, over and over again! And Mitzi kept saying, stride it out, stride it out, over and over again! I told her if I heard her say that one more time I was going to punch her! LOL! I love you Mitzi! Not sure what mile it was, after mile 20, Maria joined us for more encouragement along the way! Thank Goodness she was there to keep me from beating up Mitzi! LOL! Dawn showed up about mile 24 too! Thank you girls! That was awesome! Those last few miles were brutal! Then about mile 26 I lost it! I was sobbing and had that ugly face you get when you cry! I kept thinking just suck it up...when you turn the corner everyone will see that ugly cry face! So I got it together and Mitzi & I ran the last .2 miles with smiles on our faces, giving our family and friends high fives before we crossed the finish line together!
Amazing! Just Amazing! I will never regret running a Marathon with the most amazing friends a girl could have! JB, Alison, Stormie & Mitzi, I love you all! And I am so proud to have gone through this journey with you girls! Now ......don't ever ask me to run a marathon with you again! CABO, HERE WE COME!
LISA
First let me go back a few weeks prior to this huge event in my life! I told the girls I would NEVER, EVER run a marathon in my life!!!! They begged, pleaded and even tried to bribe me into doing this run! I held my ground......until Stormie sent out an E-mail! That E-mail changed my whole outlook on doing a marathon!
She was running for a cause and that cause was to raise money for the PPMD Organization to help find a CURE for muscular dystrophy, which as you all know is very near and dear to her heart! I got to thinking about HER reasons for doing this marathon, and for MY reasons for NOT doing this marathon! Stormie's were all selfless and mine were all selfish! Her's were to help find a cure for MD, to stop this dreaded disease that takes over the muscles of so many folks, young and old! Mine were, why would I want to run 26.2 miles? My muscles would be so sore, my feet would hurt, and oh my goodness...I might get a blister or two! Really? The pain that I would endure would go away after a few days, and the blisters would heal and I would be fine! I have two perfectly good legs (although they my be old legs) to be able to make that treck, where so many with MD only wish they could walk, run, jump & play!
So...with a little push from Mitzi, I agreed to do The Cowtown Marathon with the other MM's! That was about 3 weeks before the run! I know, crazy right? Not a lot of training! The furthest I had ever ran was 13.1 miles, and that was a year and a half ago! But Mitzi & I crunched the number's and figured if we ran the first half, walking through the water stops and ran/walked the 2nd half we could get it done before they closed the race course at 7.5 hours! We did just that....but our time exceeded our goals! We finished in 5 hours and 34 minutes! Talk about 2 excited girls!
We had tears, laughter and even anger throughout the journey! But we always kept in our mind the REASON we were doing this! His name is ETHAN! Right before the start gun went off we gathered together for a prayer and I don't think there was a dry eye in the group! Even after the prayer I had a tiny voice in my head telling me to "get out, don't do it, run & hide"! But then I had Mitzi telling me...."We got this"! And off we went to the cheers of about 23 family and friends that made the trip to Ft. Worth just to watch us run!
Running through the streets of Ft. Worth, seeing so many volunteers and spectators with great signs and words of encouragement was amazing! I saw a sign as we were hitting the home stretch that said RUN LISA RUN! Sure made me smile! I think the 2 best signs were, "Wellington Runners Do It For Donuts". (Which most of you know the background on that!) And right about mile 26, "You Are No Longer A Runner, You Are A Marathoner"! I still find that hard to believe!
The route was crazy! Lots of hills! YIKES! The one that scared us all to death was about a mile long, between mile 8 & 9! WHEW! About half way up Mitzi told me that we were going to make that hill our B#@*h! And for those of you that don't know Mitzi, she doesn't cuss much at all! That was funny! And let me tell you once we made it to the top and I caught my breath, I could laugh about it! Darn hill!
We ran through the stock yards, downtown Ft. Worth, the campus of TCU, where the sorority girls were sitting out on there front porch, in there robes, drinking coffee cheering us on! We ran through beautiful neighborhoods where folks were out in their yards, some handing out candy, muffins, fruit and encouragement! Oh, I can't forget the guys who were handing out ice cold beer about mile 24! And yes we had a drink! We needed the carbs! LOL! We ran through beautiful parks and along the river too!
About mile 14.5 my body was letting me know that it was NOT happy about all if the running! If it weren't for my running partner, Gu Chomps, Cliff Bars, Ibuprofen, and seeing our family and friends along the route to cheer us on, I'm not so sure I would of made it!
Here is where the anger came into play! I just wanted to be DONE! I just kept repeating, finish, finish, finish, over and over again! And Mitzi kept saying, stride it out, stride it out, over and over again! I told her if I heard her say that one more time I was going to punch her! LOL! I love you Mitzi! Not sure what mile it was, after mile 20, Maria joined us for more encouragement along the way! Thank Goodness she was there to keep me from beating up Mitzi! LOL! Dawn showed up about mile 24 too! Thank you girls! That was awesome! Those last few miles were brutal! Then about mile 26 I lost it! I was sobbing and had that ugly face you get when you cry! I kept thinking just suck it up...when you turn the corner everyone will see that ugly cry face! So I got it together and Mitzi & I ran the last .2 miles with smiles on our faces, giving our family and friends high fives before we crossed the finish line together!
Amazing! Just Amazing! I will never regret running a Marathon with the most amazing friends a girl could have! JB, Alison, Stormie & Mitzi, I love you all! And I am so proud to have gone through this journey with you girls! Now ......don't ever ask me to run a marathon with you again! CABO, HERE WE COME!
LISA
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