Last July I signed up for a 5K and started running with Hannah Dunn at Camp Horizons in the early mornings. In September, I joined a group of ladies from my church to run the 5K- the first for several of us. Katie Welborn was my encourager and dropped back to run with me. I ran the whole thing and was so proud of myself! I did another 5K a few weeks later and improved my time slightly. I was hooked.
The winter months were consumed with our move to Denver and I didn't run much at all. I heard great things about the BolderBoulder10K in May, but wasn't sure I'd be up to it this year with very little training and running at higher elevation.
Then, my friend and former camp counselor Melanie's health took a turn for the worse. She had been fighting a rare liver cancer for almost two years and was also a runner. She passed away in April and I signed up to run in her memory and started training. All of a sudden I was going for hour-long runs when I used to get stressed at the thought of having to run one mile. Who was this girl?!
I quickly discovered that running is more mental than physical. I set goals, pinned inspirational quotes on Pinterest and didn't stop a run until I was finished. It was not easy!
I asked friends to sponsor me as a ran my first 10K and all of the money raised went to support Melanie's family. I was blown away by the amount of support I received. Thank you, thank you to all who supported me!
Two weeks before the race, I ran 5 miles and then my knee started bothering me. No pain, just kind of an achiness. Ugggh- what to do?! I did not want to miss the race, but also wanted to make smart decisions for my body. I took a complete break from running and wore a brace.
May 27 came quickly and I was ready to go! My family dropped me off at the start and I joined the 47,000+ other runners.
My first race with a shoe timing tag- real deal!
Ready to run!
Course summit: 5,391 feet elevation.
Finish!
The finish was at Folsom Field at CU and it was pretty incredible to run into this packed stadium.
I did it! I ran the whole way! 6.2 miles.
The race atmosphere was really amazing! It winds through neighborhoods where people are out on their front lawns having a party. There were people spraying us with sprinklers, offering Doritos and cupcakes (I had both!), hula hoopers, people running in costumes, lots of live music and people of all ages running. My knee didn't bother me at all- yeay! When I was getting tired, I would think about Mel and how she endured chemo and lots of other unpleasant things. If she could deal with that, I could certainly run 6.2 little miles.
My official time was 1:25:26, which was ahead of my goal time of 1:30. I placed 411 out of 562 in my division (that's not last!) and 14,260 out of 23,308 women. I'm so proud that I finished and ran in Melanie's honor. I'm sure that she was watching and cheering me on every step of the way!
Melanie wrote a children's book about cancer, based largely on her experiences with her two young children, Autumn and Reid. You can learn more about her project here.
