Day 159:
Race Day dawned beautiful and cool this morning. I woke up with a stuffy nose for the third day in a row. Butterflies floated in my stomach and fought each other even more after arriving at registration. It looked like there would be 75-100 runners. Less than 50 of us made it to the starting line. My bib number was 92 and the highest number I saw was 150.
The race started and by the end of the first mile, I was in last place. By the time I got to the water station, I could no longer see the rest of the runners. Two steep hills and a bridge later, I finally reached the turn around point. It was nice watching the others runners go past and give hi-fives.
The way back was hard and I needed to walk three times for a short distance. But just as I was running out of steam, I see a bright yellow poster up ahead that says. "Go Lisa!" Standing there are both my boys and two of their friends cheering me on. That was great! Just what I needed at just the right moment.
The four of them ran with me until the finish line was in sight. That's when I saw my Daisy, my running buddy and another friend with a sign. Daisy took a few pictures of me running with my cheerleaders, then ran the rest of the way in cheering me on. It was awesome!
I knew through the entire race that I would be last by quite a bit. There just weren't enough runners and the walkers went an entirely different direction for me to have any hope of keeping up with someone. But the point of the race wasn't for me to place or win any medals, it was for me to finish.
I have worked hard over the last several months to be able to run this race. Thank you to all those who stood by me and cheered me on to the finish line.
Oh, by the way, my time was 48:17. Now, I have a record to break and a new race to plan for. Hmmm, I wonder what it will be?
Running to finish,
Lisa
PS. I have tried all afternoon to post the race pictures here with no luck so visit my facebook page to see them. https://www.facebook.com/lisa.s.butler.9?ref=tn_tnmn
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