Quote of the Day: “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.” John Bingham
I was so happy to see Joe at mile 19. He had been waiting for 4 hours, yes 4 hours. He had to board a bus at 6:15 A.M. and then wait at the mile 19 station. Since the marathon doesn’t even start until 7:00 A.M., he was there a long time. Normally, you would just be so happy to get to this part of the race and be able to zoom down the canyon, but I had to be careful of my foot. I felt like I was pushing my luck as it was, that it was a miracle that it didn’t hurt. It was great to be with Joe, who was content to just walk beside me from mile 20 to 24. Something happens to your muscles when you switch from running to walking. It seems that the longer you walk, the harder it is to rev that engine back up and move forward, at a faster pace. But I do love how those miles go by once you’ve reached the 20s. The morning was so beautiful. We watched kayakers lug their boats up the canyon for another run down the river. You also feel a camaraderie with other runners when you’re struggling to finish these last miles. We’re this mass of injured or slow walkers/runners dreaming about the finish line. At mile 20, I phoned my friends predicting that I would finish between 5 and 5 1/2 hours.
After you leave Ogden Canyon, about mile 23, there is a park that you meander through for a few miles. I love this part, statues of dinosaurs on your left and lots of green grass all around. At one point, we had to make a choice to go right or left, two women in front of us were also confused. We chose left and it was correct. This is the fear of every runner, that you could get off course and miss a turn. But at mile 24, we had enough walking and wanted so badly to get to the end of this ordeal, so we started running. We ran along, passing people and finally made it to Grant Avenue. We would be going straight until 25th Street. This is the longest street in the world, or so it seemed. You run along looking at people in the distance, spotting eventually the faintest sign of the finish with a long white banner across. I knew my friends were waiting and I tried to not get too emotional until I got closer. How typically this reflected my journey of cancer treatment. My children lending their support all along the way, Joe, there ready to carry me if need be, friends waiting to greet me as I accomplished this feat. Never was a girl happier to come across the finish line. Never did a medal feel so great around my neck. We were all there in a line, flowers in my hands, crying because cancer is really a terrible disease, crying because I’ve survived, joyful crying because I have so many supports in my life!
Family supporting me every inch of this treatment!
Running friends at finish line
Best Friends in the world!
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