Race for the Cure recap from back in May.
So… it was sort of a come back race for me. I had to stop running in November after some old and new injuries came together to be best friends (bursitis in the hip, tendonitis in the foot). Things aren’t 100% but are definitely getting better. It was my first race since November 6th.
Race recap… prettydamn decent. I’ve been getting back into the mileage doing run/walk intervals. Did my first full 3.1 miles 10 days before the race but have been sticking to 4/1 run/walk intervals. During the race I fully ran the first 2 miles!! Then I walked 2 mins, ran 4 mins, walked 1 min and then ran the rest of the way to finish the race. I sort of wished I had just pushed through but I was hitting a wall and it was getting pretty warm. Taking it easy from around miles 2-2.5 helped me feel pretty good during the last part of the race so I’ll take it.
Another thing that helped…
During the last ½ mile I was running at nearly the same pace with the woman next to me. I made some generically lame comment about the heat (it was getting pretty toasty). She agreed and we spent the last ½ mile of the race going back and forth with comments about getting close to 3 miles and being nearly done. At one point I asked if she had done the race before and she joked about how she had, even though you might not be able to tell (because of the struggles). I told her I’ve been doing it for the past few years with my family because my Mom is a survivor of breast cancer. She then remarked that she had a lumpectomy 2 years ago. Now while running alongside this woman for 5 minutes, I didn’t really get a good look at her. She was in my periphery and wearing a hat but I knew in general she was pretty young. I made a comment (probably an assholish comment – I blame it on the running) about “but you aren’t that old” or something and she said she was 28. (Hi, that’s how old I am.) I know breast cancer can strike at any age but I was shocked, I have no idea what I said back but we were really close to the finish line and we both kicked it into high gear for a strong finish. She rocked it. I was trying not to puke. After we crossed the finish line she turned and gave me a huge hug and congratulated me on the race. I’m sure I did the same. And then she was gone. I lost her in the crowd in my desperate search for water.
I had time to kill until the rest of my family finished the race so I snuck off to a shady corner to catch my breath, drink some water and recover. I’m always so overcome by thanks that I can run this race in “Celebration” of my Mom and not in “Memory” of her. And I was overcome with gratitude for having spent the most memorable 5 minutes of my running “career” with this woman. I’ll never forget it.
