It had hills, it was hot, the scenery barely changed AND IT STILL ROCKED!
Why you ask? Let me tell you the reasons...13.1 reasons.
1. The start line was filled with team members fighting a disease that has been with me for 6 years and has made some of my races (read my SF half marathon post) extremely difficult.
2. I had a reason to run. 1.4 million Americans with Crohn's or Colitis. So I guess I had 1.4 million reasons to run
3. The hills. Yes this is a reason why it was awesome. Usually races become somewhat repetitive and all you have to think about is how much farther to go but not so in this race, you had hills and it gave me little challenges I had to overcome every couple of minutes so I was focusing on getting up the hill and running even though my quads and glutes burned.
4. The vineryards. Look at the picture. Enough said.
5. Team Challenge. Thousands of people were there to support us, from the thousand other runnings to all of the mentors to the family and friends of the runners. It seemed like every time I wanted to take a walk break a TC person would start screaming to me and I would just keep running. It didn't matter if they knew me or not, they just knew what I was running for and they wanted me to rock it as much as I did.
6. Mile 6. I love race day signs. I have blogged about them before and mile 6 gave us the best ones...."6 miles to pinot" and "Channel your inner Kenyan"
7. Mile 7. This mile was hilly and on a hot stretch. I wasn't with any Team Challenge people and started to get majorly discouraged. It was right then that a TC coach came up behind me screaming his lungs out, grabbed a sign off the road that said "Caution: Runners on Road" and booked it through the crowd screaming "Let's Go!", a whole group of TC people ran in behind him and they just kept going out of my sight. I was running faster at this point which meant they were sprinting.8. Ms. Pappas. My bestie and I are notorious for starting things and never finishing them. We started clubs in high school and college, wanted to go on all these trips, think up fabulous ideas and have no follow thru, it's like the universe is against us finishing anything. If someone would have told me this is what we would have finished together I would have laughed but we did....and I am so proud of Ms. Pappas for going through with this and supporting me and raising all that money on her own to support research for a disease I have. So take that universe, we finished.
9. Momma K. While i was running all I could think of was Ms. Pappas and Momma K and all of the other runners with me who were doing these for the first time and so I ran my little heart out. Becuase she is 52 a ran a half a dang marathon. HALF OF A MARATHON PEOPLE! I screamed it as I ran her in at mile 13 and I will scream it again..."THAT"S MY MOM!!" She rocks.
10. Poppy K and Baby Chicken. For some of my races I ran them just for me and I ran them hard and worked at it but having support at the finish line is HUGE! These men drove us all around, flew all the way up here to support us and I knew they would be there with hugs and smiles at the end and that is absolutely huge.
11. Mile 11. I felt like i was in Peru and the next mile I got to distract myself with the thoughts of Peru and the fun times I had there (I told you all that 2 hrs is a long time to be sitting there with yourself and your thoughts so if I wanted to think about Peru for ten minutes instead of running, I will, don't judge me)
12. Coach Jason. He rocked. There was something he said at the meeting before the race that affected me this entire race and made it so much easier. He said "just get through the next mile". I have posted before about how I think about how much farther I have and it is so discouraging...so instead I followed his advice and said "OK, mile 2 just get to 3, OK mile 3 just get to 4, OK mile 5 just get to 6" and pretty soon it was "OK mile 12 just get to mile 13"
13. My donors. Having people donate over $3,500 dollars to you, making each mile worth over $300 makes you kick it up a notch becuase I don't know about you but if you were getting paid $300 every ten minutes I think you would want to do a pretty good job at whatever you were doing.
13.1. The finish line. This was the best finish line i have ever crossed. Vegas had the most people and the most glitz and it was my first one and the finish line never seemed like it would never come but it did. San Francisco was two blocks from my home and welcomed with open arms as I hobbled my little legs over it as I was sick the entire race. Austin was run in with one of my best friends and also welcomed as it was a miserable race. Salt Lake City was run in with the Kenyan marathon winner and marked my personal record...but this was the best.
I turned and saw Sonoma Hall and booked it...the TC people were in full force and I sprinted my butt off.
I felt so proud to have run for the 1.4 million Americans with Crohn's or Colitis and I was proud that I did it with one of these diseases. I was happy my body was strong enough to get me through this despite an intestinal tear and leg problems. I was blessed to have 13 reasons to run and I loved crossing this finish line.
Momma K gave me a necklace this weekend that said "Joy" and that is exactly what this moment was.
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