Runners World Festival and Half- Meeting My second Family Part 2

     Sunday morning was a freakishly windy and cold morning for the half marathon. We lined up for a group photo and rush to the start line which was a short distance away. Laurie and Patricia, two super bad ass women, where with me at the start line and going to accompany me to a PR.  I was super excited to have them alongside me during this journey. This was my whole goal of Runner's World festival.  I was extremely nervous, but they help to relax me.

     We were at the starting line and then the countdown begin where they started the race for us. We were off and down the street. Laurie helped reel in my pace as I often Jackrabbit from the start lines. We kept a great pace and worked our way through the city. I continue to produced my bad habit of checking my watch and comparing it to my pace band I received at the expo.  Laurie finally had to threaten to remove my watch so they didn't over stress about it. I quickly realize this was going to be a very tough half marathon.

      I beasted my way up every hill that popped up in front of me and Laurie had me blasting down the hills on the opposite side. Her voice help keep me calm and prevented me from overdoing it, while still pushing myself outside my comfort zone. I was happy to see some of my friends along the way. By the halfway point I knew that I was heading towards a PR. I just had to keep pushing myself.

     Mile 11 seemed to come fairly quickly. I started my climb up another hill when my right calve locked up.  The pain shot through my leg and it felt as though someone had stabbed me. I could not move.  I had to stop for a minute and stretch and massage it out. Laurie gave me a good pep talk and persuaded me to keep pushing. I began my painful steps down the next hill when David Willey came up from behind me and Laurie. Laurie introduced me to him and told him what I set out to do.  He checked his watch and looked at me and said I could easily do it and he said, "let's go".  David Willey left us behind, but Laurie and I raced towards the finish.

     I put out all of the effort I had left in the tank to get across that finish line. The closer I got to the finish line caused me to tear up. My emotions overflowed as I crossed that finish line.  I saw myself in a completely different light this day. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and pride. I felt that I had won a huge battle.  I remembered that at one point I was told I would never run again, but I just did 13.1 freaking miles on a hilly course. I found Allison and we both hugged and cried for a few moments. She was proud of me as much as I was. It's not very often that I can have the self confidence to feel pride in myself, but I did that day. Laurie helped bring out my inner strength so that I could drown out my demons and accomplish the goal that I had set out to do. Thank you so much Laurie. She encompasses what the Sub 30 club is all about. We are a family and we are here to support each other no matter what our goals are. 

The privilege and honor was all mine to get to run alongside these two badass ladies. 

Shane and Monica

A smile......I didn't know what was still to come. 

Christine getting to feel what cold really is. 

Before the half. 

Back of the pack party. 

Lynn bringing in the party. 

My hair dresser Dara. 

And the girls love her hair style too. 

Stella and Larry photobomb. 

Group photo before the 5K. 

2 races in 2 days. 

Runners World Festival and Half- Meeting My second Family Part 1

     October 5th, 2014: I spent my morning helping my mother get settled in her new apartment before I left for my weekend of awesomeness in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Things were not going as planned and the kick off from Salisbury was getting later by the moment. There was not too much traffic, but we had the usual stop for lunch, stop for bathroom breaks, missed a turn, and then a little bit of a traffic jam in Pennsylvania. We finally arrived in Bethlehem and the first thing I noticed was holy-moly Hills.

     We missed the kid run by about 30 minutes. I was in trouble with Georgia and Grady as they were super excited to do the kids run.  After soothing the tempers we managed to work our way through packet pick up with no problems. I even got to visit the famous and awesome Elizabeth Comeau (#RWZelle) and introduced her to my family.  The site of the RW Festival was amazing. We made our way to The hotel near downtown Bethlehem where I quickly had to leave to meet the rest of the Sub- 30 club at the Moravian Book store for a book signing and surprise birthday gathering for the creator of our little group, Ted Spiker from Runners World's Big Guy Blog.  He is such an amazing and awesome writer. Speaking of which check out his book, "Down Size." 

Size      The gathering at the bookshop was amazing. I was very quiet and shy which is totally not like me. But this was the first time I was meeting Ted, Mark Remy, and other members of the Sub-30 Club in person. It was surreal to be standing among people I only knew from photos and posts on Facebook. We were there for little while and mingled a little bit, but it was getting late and everyone wanted to head out for drinks or to bed for the races on Saturday. I followed the group to BrewWorks, a local brewery, to hang out for a little while before I decided I should probably get back to the hotel and rest. 

     Saturday morning was a little hectic trying to figure out where to park and exactly where I was supposed to meet everyone. An idea came about to create a custom shirt with Ted's face on it for Runners World Festival.  We all had purchased it and were going to do a surprise unveiling during a group photo that morning before the races. We also had custom tattoos with his face as well. Ted had become a symbol of our group. All of his goals and work brought us all together. We had essentially become great friends and even more a family. 

     This moment was a culmination of months worth of planning, discussion, and jokes. We were all lined up for the group photo near the start line.  Lonnie and Laurie, mementos of our group, pulled Ted up to the front of the group and stated that there was something wrong with the picture. Laurie pointed out that our shirts were wrong and at that point our queue was to remove our shirts to expose the awesomeness of Ted on our chests.  Lonnie and Laurie then presented Ted with his own shirt. It was such a fantastic moment right before we all ran together. 

     Almost immediately after taking the group photo we had to line up for the beginning of the 5K. Stella was running with me and the rest of the group. She actually thought Lonnie's hair was great since it was neon yellow. She then asked if she could get a picture with him. The race was about to begin and Stella was smack talking  to me about the 5K. Everyone there thought it was hysterical. I couldn't help but laugh, and secretly I was hoping she would beat me. Lonnie Nicknamed her flash which has stuck. I was not concerned about PR'ing the 5K, because my goal was to actually PR in the half marathon on the following day. 

      The race began and the crowd launched forward to the beginning of the 5K. Stella was keeping a nice pace even as we entered the entrance ramp that crossed over an inclined bridge. Once the bridge leveled out we were up another incline to round a block and then it was all downhill from there.  Coming down the bridge we saw the race photographers and I told Stella to do something like wave to the camera. Stella proceeded to flap her arms like a bird and jump and stick her tongue out.  The most exciting part about that is that she was clearly having fun.  As much as I want her to excel in running, I want her to continue to have fun and not lose sight of that. As we approach the finish line Stella launched like a rocket. I broke off towards the side of the course to pick up Grady and have him cross the finish line with me. We did it and Grady got to high-five Bart Yasso. Awesome.  

Laurie 

Lonnie

Bart Yasso:  The Mayor of Running