I did it!!!!

In the weeks leading up to the Bay it was so difficult to think about it or talk about it. You see, with just over a month to go before the race I had tweaked something in my hip flexor and it was not getting better. My husband made the mistake of saying "maybe this just isn't your race". It seemed to me that every time I tried to think about the race, all I could think of were these words. It had me just a little scared and unnerved. I wasn't very happy about it. I know that you manifest what you think about and what you dwell on, and I did not want to create a scenario where I didn't run in and finish the Around the Bay race this year.

Cut to Saturday, March 24, 2012 bed time. I am lying in bed trying to visualize the race. Trying to manifest what I want to see happen. Trying to see what it will look like. I imagine running past my husband and giving him the thumbs up at our first check point 10km in.  I imagine stopping on King Hill to get my breath before finishing the last leg up, and I imagine crossing the finish line and lifting up my nephew.  These are the moments I have created in my head. Don't know if they will happen, but I want to have an "idea" of what the race will look like and feel like for me and this is what is working and keeping my mind off of my leg and the "what ifs".

Cut to Sunday, March 25th, 2012 at 8am. I am standing in my shorts (in March) in a Tim Horton's parking lot waiting for my friends to meet me so that we can go toe the start line. I am filled with nervous energy and wondering if the vision of the race I created will unfold. Then I see my Aunt Pat at the start line and I know that it will be full of surprises. This could be my kind of day.

As Tracy and I start running we are able to pass a few people, but we are able to keep our rhythm. We are in sinc and we are running stride for stride. We take a while to warm up, but we are feeling good about the day and both of us have timed out the race and planned ahead. We are on the same page and so far so good.

At the 10km mark things are going as planned and envisioned. I give my husband the thumbs up and he knows that I am feeling good. That this year, this is a different race and so far it is going the way that I planned.  At the 15km mark we see my family again and I have to get some fluid and encouragement from the family but we are ahead of schedule and feeling good. Tracy and I have a conversation where I tell her that if she needs to go ahead she can. She is a faster runner than I am now and I don't want her to feel like she should run my race and not her own. She tells me that her plan is to stick with me and so we settle in.

At the 21km mark we have just hit a PB time for me at this distance. I am happy but also emotional. This is where I had to pull out of the race last year. I know now, at this stage, that I have had success, that I am going to finish this race this year, it is just a matter of time and breathing.  I know that I have already won. My nephew hugs me and tells me he loves me and is proud of me and it is all I can do to keep the emotions in check. I still have 9km's left to go.

Tracy and I decide that with our legs feeling like they do, running up hill is too demanding. We make a plan to walk at a fast pace up the hills but run the downhills. This will keep our time good, but keep our legs as fresh as they can be on route to a 30km finish line.  We again affirm our commitment to running this thing together and finishing strong together.

Less than 2km's to go and our cheerleaders of Running Room friends is there. They are all hugs and smiles, love and encouragement. There is caffeine for a final boost, and a few tears. It feels good. And it is just exactly what we need to get our legs under us and run toward the finish line.

And before you know it, the music is blaring and the gates and finish clock are ahead of us. We have made it! We race toward the finish line and all I can see is the line. I can't hear the announcer or my name, I can't see other people, I can't take it all in fast enough. And then Tracy is in front of me and we hug and congratulate each other and notice that the clock has us finishing in 4hrs, 13 minutes. A bit longer than we wanted, but heck we were happy and smiling and on two feet when we crossed the line, and really, who could ask for more than that?

It took me time to find my family and get the hugs and kisses and "good job she". It took time to look around at the sea of finishers that I was now a part of. It took time to realise that it was really over and that I had actually done what I had set out to do. I had indeed "Beat the Bay".