Today I made a good decision. It was a hard decision, but a good one. Today was the GO! St. Louis marathon and half marathon. I had the opportunity to run the half, and I wanted to. I really wanted to. If you’ve read many of my posts, you may have noticed that I love racing. This week I considered getting up before the sun to run the half this morning and then, literally, racing to work. I thought about going out and doing it nice and easy, “for fun”. But I know me. I don’t do anything nice and easy. I would have thrown myself into it, because that’s what I do, in pretty much every aspect of my life. What can I say? I’m kind of passionate like that.
I’ve got so much adrenaline building for my two big upcoming races. Between those, my failed racing attempt on St. Patrick’s Day, and a missed race in February….I would have gone out of the gates guns blazin’! That would not have been smart. So, this week as I mulled over the idea of racing today, I ultimately listened to my head and did the right thing. I decided not to risk injury. I decided to save myself for MY races. My day is coming, I just need to be patient (something I have a reeeeeeally hard time doing).
This blog is typically about my own personal running adventures, but this weekend I had so many friends racing that I have to share some stories. These are some of the people who inspire me and push me to keep doing what I love…
My Smoky Mountain Relay teammates, Ken and Jordan didn’t run the GO! They ran the Xenia Marathon in Ohio. Ken had a huge PR of 3:15, placing 12th; Jordan ran 2:49 and took 3rd overall.
Barb Delgado ran the GO! Half in 1:32:55, taking home a 2nd place age group award.
Carl Bost finished his second marathon. He has cut himself to half of his former size. If he keeps running marathons, he might disappear.
Two years ago, John Tvrdic, didn’t understand my running addiction or how I could get up at the crack of dawn to log the long miles and now he has officially been bitten by the running bug. How many Halfs is that now JT? And when is the first full???
Lindsey Harris ran back to back half marathons this weekend, the Lincoln Half on Saturday and the GO! on Sunday. Lindsey ran to let the past be the sound of her feet upon the ground. Carry on, Girl, carry on…
Douang, whose comments are scattered all over the pages of my blog and I absolutely love her for it, ran her first half marathon today and I know she was thinking of the sweet baby she lost way too soon.
Courtney, Nicole, Wes, Kris, Teri, Tracy, Megan, Chris, Julie, Laura, Brian, Andrea, Rick, Adam and probably several others that I didn’t even realize were out there. Some ran the half, some ran the full, some ran the relay as part of a team. It wasn’t about the distance; it was about doing what unites us as runners. And feeling like we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.
Speaking of being a part of something bigger…Chris Smaglis, Caleb Baldwin, John Hull, Katie Poland, Adrienne Beer and Judy West, along with so many others, ran to raise money for Team Living Water. Living Water is an organization that provides wells for clean drinking water in communities all around the world. But even more than that, they provide hope for the hopeless. Saturday evening I sat in church with yellow jersies scattered throughout the room. I was sitting next to Caleb; he was wearing his yellow jersey and a hat that had been signed by all the people who donated to Living Water through his efforts. Caleb wore that hat while he raced today and now it will travel to the project that he ran for so the people who will receive water from this team will know some of the names of the people who sponsored them.
My dad always said, “Surround yourself with good people”. It’s obvious that I have. These are my friends. I wouldn’t necessarily say they are always a good influence on me (ie-Nicole heckled me for my decision to practice self-control and not race today) But, like I said, these are the people who inspire me to keep doing what I love. It’s not just about going out and winning. It’s about pushing yourself to accomplish your own personal goals, whatever they might be. There are so many reasons we race. Ask any one of us on any given race day and chances are you’ll get a different answer. Sometimes it’s about running for yourself, running to heal a hurt, running to remember someone, running to raise money for someone who needs something. Sometimes we run just because we are so grateful that we can.
Tomorrow I have a 20 mile training run to do. I won’t be physically surrounded by all of these people, I probably won’t even see anyone I know while I’m running. But I know without a doubt, it will be thoughts of them, and the inspiration they are to me, that will be pulling me through each one of those 20 miles.
One way or another, next April I plan to listen to my heart and I hope to be rocking a yellow jersey of my own…
RRG logged 5 miles today while the GO! was GOing on…
Thanks for the shout out! Or at least I assume that was for me. haha! I went out there yesterday to help a friend who was doing her first full, so happy I could help with her with journey..at the beginning and the end. I even stopped at each of the 2 beer stops the last 3 miles of the half (which I was “racing”) and sampled. I was just out there to have fun, help a friend, and not go after a PR. Loved being around friends before and after. It’s what this sport, journey, is all about.
Thank you thank you for the shout out! So sweet of you and I sure was thinking of my Sweet Ella!! I ran in Memory of 27 babies gone too soon and in Honor of those still fighting. Check out my pics on Facebook: Hopeful Soles. 🙂 Doing this half was quite an emotional feat but it sure felt good!! Thanks always for the inspiration!