race-o-rama

so for years my sister and brother in law have been trying to convince me to run a race. dave ran the richmond marathon a year ago. it was wicked cool, the energy, the excitement, the hope in the air. i really liked the cheering part, i have a perpetual need to be encouraging so it was like the ultimate outlet for positivity.

i've never felt a strong desire to run myself but i decided to do a local 10K. i don't really enjoy running, but i am in this 30 year old crisis thing so i've been thriving on finding new mountain tops to conquer.
the green energy quickly started to dissolve when i realized that dave and jen would be in africa the day of the race. Unexpected happenings had made my training schedule downright pathetic. i had run only once in the last 2 weeks before the race. this meant there was no way my crazy competitive self could match jorge's time of 53 minutes from last year.

everything felt too busy, no one wanted to go. it seemed like there were 20 reasons why i should bail. i was completely unprepared. no proper hydration, no laying out the race clothes, no decent night's sleep...except for the t-shirts. i was totally prepared to use my children as walking billboards for the 26,000 people there. they are so cute, who could pass on such a great opportunity for spreading political hope.

they read:

my mama
yo mama
for obama
2009

so i went, half-hearted about the whole thing (except the t-shirts). it wasn't the experience i had anticipated at all. the people barely cheered on the way. maybe the thrill was over by the time i got there or they had one too many mimosas and were tired. i plugged along until the 4th mile, i definitely hit a wall and was wishing someone was with me. i walked a little and then started a slow jog.
a really young hot black guy started to walk beside me. he was perfectly cut, you could see every muscle in his arms. i learned that just like a book fitness can not always be judged by it's cover. i leaned over and said. "hey, you should be kickin' my ass, go, run!".
he smiled and took off, i needed a me in that moment too.

i started to run and finished at 1:07 minutes, it wasn't too shabby considering. i was pleased for my first race and not too embarrassed.

the cheerleader in me felt the need to compensate for what seemed to be a lack of woo-hooing in the universe for the stragglers close to the end.
i really just wanted, no, NEEDED to see Beckey. Beckey is my dear friend who trained religiously, followed every running rule in the book, who put her entire heart and soul in the race. just a few days earlier she had hurt her ankle and was feeling such despair that she would miss the race all together. she recovered and was hoping to do it in less than 2 hours.

i was moving through my repertoire-
you are doing it!
you are almost there!
you can walk when you get home!
you did it, finish strong!
yes, you in the blue, you got it, go,go,go....


when i saw her, she was coming in well under 2 hours. i don't know what came over me. i was jumping like a total lunatic, screaming her name. "i'm so proud of you!" we hugged tight and she went on to finish the race. it was a total sister moment. i wanted to cry, she was glowing with soulful accomplishment, something i had completely missed because of my foolish pride.

i don't know if i'll run more races or not, beckey, however seems completely hooked. my soul has much more work to do on the matter. i will happily make t-shirts and woo-hoo for beckey and those like her in the meantime.