Race Day

While we may look ready in the picture, this is really our best nervous face. Besides it being cold, I was shivering becasue of the competitive people I saw that morning. When we arrived on site, I thought I was going to start running up and down the street, burst into tears, and start hurdling the parked cars. There are few times in my life that I felt so much "nervous energy". That is not me. I am pretty laid back, but that day I was not myself.

As people arrived and we started to become a crowd, I somehow felt more at ease. My confidence began to build. I knew that I could whoop 6 miles, but I didn't want to be left behind. Or fall in the street. Or even worse, get hit by a car. Tragedy. OK, snap out of it. A real fear of mine throughout training has been that all of the people would leave, the finish line would be removed and I'd be running with the moon. My wife promised me that she would make sure they would not remove anything until I crossed the finish line.

The moments just before the race were very surreal. I have never been certain at what point an experience becomes surreal, but this felt very close to it. While I only prepared for this race for 9 weeks, it seemed like I'd been preparing my whole life. My niece's encouragement began all of this, Danielle and Annabelle's endless support, my family, my friends at work. All of the help I received makes this hard to put into words.

As we lined up for the start, my confidence began to gain momentum. It was now or never. And I had no choice but to do my best. Lining up was probably the most exciting up to that point because it became very real. Here I was in a sea of runners, yes runners, trying to reach a goal we had all set for ourselves. Some set a 6-10 minute mile, some set a goal of reaching the end in a certain number of minutes, but I had set a goal far in advance just to finish. We all had different calculations, but our goal was the same. Cross. That. Line.

As the gun fired to begin, I went with the crowd. I seriously felt like an athlete. But my feet and legs became so tense I guess because of the nervousness, the pressure of the crowd, and just being cold. I thought, "Not now..." With everyone surrounding me and all of the pressure I was already putting on myself, I decided to just walk and warm up. I knew if I gave it my all at this point, I would never finish. I tried to just begin to take everything in. Just when I started to get that hint of discouragement, I passed Annabelle and Danielle on the sidelines holding signs they had created to cheer me on. I knew I had to keep going.

The first mile was a killer! I found my stride, but I found myself all alone. So I turned up the music and kept moving. I was not going to give up! All of the crowd left, including the police picking up the cones to open the blocked traffic lanes. I started to feel when I first started training. Alone. But I was not going to stop. Not 9 weeks into it! I turned up the music even louder so all I could hear were words. "Good things come to those who wait......the hard lessons make the difference." The race was on!