Race for the Roses

well, I ran the half marathon this morning. I'll add a second event blog once the event photos are posted online at the end of the week.

It was a pretty rough run for me. I woke up with a NEW and different sore throat this morning... more like a tonsil ache really on the left side of my throat. blah.

I packed some kleenex, a handful of cough drops, and my new light weight, high-tech, caution orange windshell pullover on me to go to meet the TNT team at 6am at the doubletree hotel.

I ended up needing all of the coughdrops, but none of the kleenex before 10am. BUT, regardless of my infirmed condition, I MADE IT! I ran the half in 02:42:47, roughly a 12:30 minute mile pace. Ok, my personal goal was under 2 hours 37 minutes... but i think considering how sick I've been for the past 2 weeks (and still kinda am), only 6 minutes slower than my intended goal pace isn't half bad. PLUS it gives me something solid to strive to beat next half!!

You should have heard me coughing through the send-off party on Saturday night. It was pathetic. I clearly was NOT the vision of health I should have been. oh well.

I can honestly say: today's run was HARDER than running the portland marathon last year. I was more exhausted at the end, and just as sore. I'm glad it's done. My mom and I celebrated with AMAZING italian food tonight and lots of wine. :D

She finished in 03:03:02. Pretty fricken fast for a walker. Thats quicker than a 14 minute mile pace (faster than my marathon pace).

So tonight, I sent out a conclusion email to my mentees:
"WELL DONE EVERYONE! I'm so proud of all of you, even those of you who have run marathons or half marathons before!

It was cold and prehaps a touch drizzly at times, but I think I can say all of you had a great run today! AND, today's mid-40's degree overcast weather treated all of us well (after hail and sleet and snow and whatever else we've trained in!!). I think I even spotted the sun on occasion today!

- Amy and Gabrielle had their best pace of the season today, you ladies did a FRICKEN GREAT job!!

- Kim and Frank were a good 2 miles ahead of me kicking serious ass on the course, I was at least able to cheer them on on the first out and back! Great job you two! NEW PRs!!! You'll have to run another half to try to beat your times today!! ;)

- I last saw Teresa going up the Broadway Bridge at the beginning of the race looking strong as always, and I had a funny feeling that was the last I was going to see of you today! I'm hoping today was more fun than any other half or full marathon you've ever ran!! This was your first event as PART of the "purple" group, so I'm hoping that made today more fun!

- Rebecca, you've been running strong all season long! I hope you had a great day too! I'm sure you did, even tho I never spotted you on the course!

- And... last but not least Sheryl, my running partner for this season, even had to ditch my poor, sick, cough-drop-sucking butt at 11.5 miles cause she was so amped up on whatever special run formula she had. She looked remarkable, even from 100 meters behind!! :)

GO TEAM!!!


Besides spotting all of you that I could on the race course, I'd have to say my most notable moments today were:

(1) finding *my* TNT run mentor, Vicki, running today's race!! She ran with me for a couple miles even! Even tho she wasn't wearing TNT's purple race day jersey she still was thanking every TNT supporter with a HUGE genuine smile and chanting "Go TEAM!" more than I was managing! It's no wonder I was inspired to support TNT after having her as an example! I'm hoping I was at least half the mentor to all of you as she was to me!!!

(2) spotting Sherman at the TNT water booth handing out water at mile 4. He was on the Portland running team during the Portland Marathon (fall) season in 2007, and it was amazingly uplifting to see him today volunteering with TNT. I know some of you will go on to do other events with TNT in the future (you'd better, you all did GREAT this season).... but for those of you too busy to train for another "event" (OR to mentor *hint* *hint*) in the near future, please consider volunteering with TNT for booths or support or other things! Being there to hand water to TNT participants is an amazing help to LLS! Plus, you never know who you will run in to!!

(3) seeing Amy with her son after the finish line! It's true, you all have personal lives, work, friends, family, etc to manage/balance on a day to day basis, and the fact that you gave so much to TNT and LLS is so amazingly selfless of you! I don't know if you felt like heros today, but watching Amy pose for pictures with her son, and seeing how PROUD her family was of her, reminded me that each and every one of you ARE heros. I'm lucky to know the group of you!

(4) running into our coaches, Joe, Julie, and Pri, and Captain Karl today! MULTIPLE times! They did such a great job at training us, and it's always gratifying to validate their training by making it through the course. The look on their faces when they spot us is not only heart warming and inspirational, but I feel like I'm reinforcing the strength of TNT (no matter how much pain I'm in) when I'm where they hope they'll see me during the run. Without their support, TNT wouldn't be as amazing a program as it is today! It's nice knowing someone is looking out for you!

(5) every time I heard a cow bell today I smiled. That is the signature sound of a TNT supporter.


I honestly had to dig deep today to be able to run.

It's true! Today was personally harder for me than the Portland Marathon last year, probably due to my week+ illness I'm (still) fighting off. I, on multiple occasions this morning, found myself closing my eyes (while running, yes. Dangerous (!), but safer on a 4-lane police-blocked-off race course) and thinking about my pain and lack of strength to continue, and then thought about the LLS mission and reminded myself that the people going through cancer treatments today, no matter HOW bad it gets, don't have the option to "walk" or quit like I did today... and somehow that gave me the strength to push through.

I thought about my running form.
I thought about my breathing.
I thought about Joan.
... and I thought about how much I honestly DID have still left in me to put into my run. I straightened my posture as best I could, lightened my attitude, and ran like I meant it... simply because I COULD and there wasn't any reason not to.

Today is what we trained for after all!

So, this morning with the aid of 3 cough drops, no kleenex, and walking a total of about 50 meters, I finished the course.

Thanks for making the journey of the past 3 months worthwhile! I hope to see all of you at TNT alumni events or future endurance events, whatever they may be!!!

btw, I'm currently registered for the Cinco de Mayo 10K on May 4 (http://www.terrapinevents.com/cinco-de-mayo.htm), if you are planning on running this event look for me! I'd love to say hi!!

Cheers!
jacqueline"


Incase you're wondering. Yes, a handful for me is 3 cough drops. I have small hands.

oh yeah, and YES I'll be continuing to run. stay tuned!!!