Race Day

A week ago my trainer asked me to run the Spring Sprint with her. It is a 5K race and I had not trained for this event at all! I mean I go to dance class and weight training but I hate to run and I never do it.

I could not of done this without my friend Deanna (pictured with my trainer and me above). She stayed back with me and ran next to me side by side. She talked to me the whole time and pushed me to the next level. When I wanted to walk, she encouraged me to run. She is an amazing woman and has overcame a lot in her own life. She was awesome! My trainer Tammye ran it in about 24 minutes so she came back to meet me and run me in for the last quarter mile. Congrats to my friend Kelly who won 2nd place in her age bracket. Here she is. She also came back and ran me in. It was great to have all the encouragement. Tammye kept telling me "put your shoulders back, take long strides, smile and show the finish that you made this look easy!"

I was really happy with my first two miles. I ran the first mile in 12:05, got the second mile marker by 25:45 but then there were tons of hills. They killed me and forced me to walk more. So I didn't finish until 40:50. Not much of a sprint but I tried. I bought a new shirt for the run, it said "Pick a Fight"...I know several people that are struggling with sickness right now and I wanted to do this run to honor them and their fight.

Here are a few of my friends, add them to your prayer list:

• Megan Schmidt is under 40 and struggling with Breast Cancer for the past year
• Win Apel has ran a marathon in every state and every continent and was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor
• Kyle Mules our young neighbor has been struggling with Guillain Barre Syndrome for a year now and still unable to walk
• Graham Shippen, only 4 months old and recently diagnosed with Leukemia
• Evan Hepp struggles with severe seizures and has been in and out of Vanderbilt hospital the past several months
• Benson & Claire Skinner, ages 3 and 5, both have a rare disease that affects their kidneys. Claire had a transplant last year and Benson is still on the waiting list

I have been following all of their progress thru blogs, caringbridge, email, etc. I can't even imagine the struggles that they and their families are going thru. When picking out my shirt for the race I was thinking how I too had an illness. The disease of obesity but how lucky I was to have something that was curable and that I could be in total control of. As I crossed the finish line, I thought of my friends, each of them struggling and fighting and for life...it was emotional and I began to cry. I just thought about my accomplishment and how I have a strong and able body and how I need to use it and cure my own disease. I have already planned to run the next 5K with my friend Jordan in August. I am really hoping to shed 5 minutes off my time and be able to run it in 36 minutes. I guess I better start training.

Did I fail to mention that after running the race my trainer to me to these 120 stairs and told me that I should try to run them. I did them four times; at the end of May we are having a challenge to do them 10 times. It will be hard but I know I can do it. I teased Tammye and told her that contestants on the Biggest Loser win new cars when completing in crazy challenges like this. While a new car would be awesome; I am just thankful for a new me!