Thursday, May 31, 2007

I Did it! I Did It! Ka-Chow!

Somebody just ran 6 miles without stopping! And that somebody was ME! (Does happy dance..a little slowly..ooch...that's sore!).

It was an amazing experience. I am NOT the teary-eyed type, but I have to say the beginning was quite an emotional experience for me, and a tear or two escaped my eyes as I was overwhelmed with the whole reality of the situation, and how far I've come. Thousands and thousands of people take part in this race, so they break the starting down to your approximate speed per mile in advance, so they don't have people running over eachother.

I was in group NF, starting at 8:55 and 50 seconds. As the gun went off and my group began to move, I reflected on this last year. Last year I wanted to walk the Bolder Boulder, but I could not. I was just too heavy, and there was no way I could walk even a mile without huffing and puffing and hurting myself in some way! I vowed I would run it "next year". Well, "next year" was today. And I ran it. Sure, I have a 15 minute mile. Sure it took me an hour and a half. But I did it.

Last year I weighed 266. This year I weighed 155 going into the race. I did not see any severely obese people in the race. There were some obese, and some overweight, but last year I was morbidly obese and would have stood out like a sore thumb. This year I fit in with all the other "fit" people. Wow.

It really hit me how we take our health for granted as I passed a group of people about 3 miles in, one of which was administering CPR to a runner who had a heart attack and collapsed. I don't know his/her fate yet. I know 9 people had called 911 already, even though it had just happened, and I know an ambulance was on it's way..but I didn't hear the sirens yet. A few minutes later I heard them. If you think of it today please say a prayer for him/her.

Anyway, my DH and DS weren't able to cheer me on because they got a late start...but I met up with them a few minutes after the race was finished. They tried, bless their hearts. All the road closures just proved too much to navigate through and find a parking space. Next time, I told them, next time.

So I came home, popped an Ibuprophen, and just finished up my lean and green. I took a hot soaking bubble bath and am going to lay down for "nap-time" with my precious 2 1/2 year old. Ahhhh....bliss. Dark, air-conditioned, quiet room. Mmmmmmm...

OK, enough of the news of the day! Hope you all had/have a great Memorial Day, stay away from the fattening stuff and lets all get in shape, eh?

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