Would You Believe
I did it!!
Sunday, 20th of March, this non-runner hauled her butt 13.1 miles around Mercer Island in just under 3 hours.
I went into the race (hah!) hoping for 3 hours, but planning on 3 1/2. Imagine my delight when, 20 yards from the finish line, I saw the big clock ticking seconds towards 3:00:00. I'm not sure what happened, but, one moment the clock read 2:59:34 and something popped in my brain and I knew, I just knew that if I sprinted I could make those last final yards in under 26 seconds; and the next minute I was sprinting. I laid it all out there and made a mad dash for the finish line.
I could hear people cheering me on, a male's voice from my right called, "That's it! Finish strong!" And then I crossed the blue timing pad, only to see three more. I wanted to stop, but I wanted to make sure my time was logged: under 3 hours. So I kept sprinting. Past the photographer, past the official finish line, and nearly into a ladder. But, I did it!
As I bent over, gasping for air, I noticed the woman who was right behind me had made the same choice. Together we laughed, and she told me that I had inspired her to sprint the final yards.
I can hardly wait to see my photos from the race. Those finish line photos will appear to be a battle to the end, two slow, round ladies in a mad race to victory! And, I will appear victorious!
Honestly, though, we both were. We both told ourselves we'd do it, and, by gum, we did. We didn't finish first, and we didn't finish dead last (quite nearly, but not exactly), but we finished. Now, I'd like to pause and send a shout out to the final runner to cross the finish line. Her official time was 3:31:23. At 65 years of age, this runner decided to do a half marathon, and she did. Awesome!
Sunday, 20th of March, this non-runner hauled her butt 13.1 miles around Mercer Island in just under 3 hours.
I went into the race (hah!) hoping for 3 hours, but planning on 3 1/2. Imagine my delight when, 20 yards from the finish line, I saw the big clock ticking seconds towards 3:00:00. I'm not sure what happened, but, one moment the clock read 2:59:34 and something popped in my brain and I knew, I just knew that if I sprinted I could make those last final yards in under 26 seconds; and the next minute I was sprinting. I laid it all out there and made a mad dash for the finish line.
I could hear people cheering me on, a male's voice from my right called, "That's it! Finish strong!" And then I crossed the blue timing pad, only to see three more. I wanted to stop, but I wanted to make sure my time was logged: under 3 hours. So I kept sprinting. Past the photographer, past the official finish line, and nearly into a ladder. But, I did it!
As I bent over, gasping for air, I noticed the woman who was right behind me had made the same choice. Together we laughed, and she told me that I had inspired her to sprint the final yards.
I can hardly wait to see my photos from the race. Those finish line photos will appear to be a battle to the end, two slow, round ladies in a mad race to victory! And, I will appear victorious!
Honestly, though, we both were. We both told ourselves we'd do it, and, by gum, we did. We didn't finish first, and we didn't finish dead last (quite nearly, but not exactly), but we finished. Now, I'd like to pause and send a shout out to the final runner to cross the finish line. Her official time was 3:31:23. At 65 years of age, this runner decided to do a half marathon, and she did. Awesome!
posted by granola girl at 8:16 pm
1 Comments:
Sooo Proud of you! When is your Marathon? Where is it? I'll be cheering you on then too!
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