I did it!
I woke up early on Saturday morning, geared up to run the Whiskey Row 1/2 marathon and said my prayers. I arrived at the Start line and started to feel the jitters of excitement brewing in my belly. I saw people stretching, jogging, chatting, just warming up the best they could, because it was cold at 6:45am in Prescott, Arizona. I saw a couple of familiar faces and felt the panicky feeling subside with the warmth of excitement taking over. A friend was willing to be my pacer and so we got in the line up of the runners jiggling hands and feet waiting for the sound of the air horn. Alas at 7:00am sharp the horn blew and off we went. I have noticed the first few miles I am adjusting my stride, figuring out how to shush my mind, and feel my feet. In no time we were up by my old office and my body was loosing up. I was able to look up and see the clouds shifting their shape, letting me realize I was shifting my own shape, I was getting ready to climb “the mountain”. The Whiskey Row Marathon is one of the toughest in the country because you start up in elevation and then you continue to climb, then you have to run down the same way you came. The half is pretty wild too because you are climbing up as well, you just don’t climb as high and it is 1/2 the distance.
The last couple of months I have been very aware of Mountain Lions, Cheetahs, Leopards, Bobcats and how they run. If you ever watch them their muscles are loose, the animal has a grace about them that is magnificent and I wanted to emulate that. Climbing the mountain I could feel my body shift into a comfortable crawl and up I went. It is such a great feeling to know didn’t have to walk up the mountain, I followed my feet and again said my prayers. After about a 1/4 mile on the dirt I realized we had made it up the mountain, what a great feeling! After we turned around I could feel the speed kicking in, it was time to open my stride and let my body move forward. I could tell I was dropping into my groove, I knew the course, I knew what to expect where, all I had to do was to breathe and follow my feet. I have this theory that when we get close to “home” we speed up, if it is in a car or running. There is something about going home that speeds us up. I could tell the runners around me were feeling that way too, we were all speeding up a bit. I had to tie my shoes a couple of times but was able to slide right back into my groove.We turned our last corner and I had this thought that I had a lot of energy left so I started to kick in a bit. It was amazing to feel as if I had wings and my feet were barely touching the ground and my wings were carrying me to the Finish line.
When I got to the crowd I was able to see some familiar, loving faces and knew I was home. I just had to get across that imaginary “home line” then I could be safe. When I saw the clock running my old track instincts jumped in and by darn I was going to beat the clock, I didn’t beat the 30 second mark. I didn’t beat the 2 hour mark, but I did beat the 4 minute mark. I ran my first 1/2 marathon in 2 hours 3 minutes and 31 seconds. AND I ran the whole thing. Here is the learning part for me…I woke up Sunday morning with the thought, “I could have done better.” I forgot to say thank you to my body for getting me across the finish line, I forgot that for my first marathon just over 2 hours is pretty darn cool, I ignored the fact that there are people out there who can’t run. I forgot how selfish my ego can be and I forgot why I was really running the race anyway. Today I know I can celebrate and I know I can run another 1/2 marathon. I know I challenged my mind and my body training , I remembered the joy of running and I had fun! In my moment of silly thoughts this morning I thought maybe I should do a marathon, maybe that would better, but really, now that I am awake and sane, I think running a marathon is still silly. I want to find out when the next 1/2 is and sign up to run that one. When my body has recovered I will return to the mountain and continue to shape shift and say my prayers!
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