It's no secret that I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador Captain. Once a month, we all post about a similar topic and this month we are talking about our most REAL race.
What does that mean to me? It's not necessarily the best race you ever ran. You don't have to win your age group. Heck. You could finish dead freakin last.
I think of this is as an epiphany race. That one race that you had your "a ha!" moment.
For me, that race was the final leg of the Inaugural Dopey Challenge. Have you heard of it? It's 48.6 miles in 4 days. Yeah, you read that correctly. A 5k, a 10k, a half marathon, and a full marathon.
I went with my Disney race bestie Colleen. We had a great time with the first two races. Lots of photos, costumes, park visits, and sheer stupidity. The half marathon was mostly fun, but getting up early was catching up with us at this point and we got our first glimpse of the balloon ladies.
When we woke up at the butt crack of the butt crack of dawn my feet already hurt.
I was nauseous.
I was tired.
The first 9 miles were not terrible but they were not good. I started texting the hubs.
I can't do this.
I'm so stupid.
Who does this to themselves?
I can't do this.
He texted me back.
He posted on Facebook to get me some shout outs.
He told me I could.
He was right.
The final 17 miles were ugly, I'm not gonna lie. I wasn't even at mile 18 yet when the balloon ladies came into sight.
I was at around mile 20. When.they.passed.me.
holy heck.
I fought against those lovely ladies for 4 miles at least. And they were lovely ladies. Very motivating. Very nice. Very dangerous.
They passed me for good at about mile 24, as you leave Hollywood Studios and approach the Boardwalk.
You see, you can't be swept at that point. I did it! I could crawl now and no one could make me stop. I won. I cried. Everyone around me cried. We all walked those last 2 miles, and when I finished and found Colleen we hugged so hard! She fought the volunteers who tried to move her on. She wasn't getting her medal without me.
I did it. I did what people told me I couldn't do. 48.6 miles in 4 days. After that race I have never doubted a finish again. I will always know I can do it. It may not be pretty, it may not end well, but I will finish. DOPEY taught me that.
What was your most REAL race and why?
Good for you!
ReplyDelete1. Who told you that you couldn't do it? I will be kicking their ass.....
ReplyDelete2. Wineglass for me. After mile 8 I was alone....ALONE on the course a lot too as it was a small race and once I hit mile 14 it was all new to me as I do not train as you know. Then around mile 18-20 is when I realized I was going to do it, I was going to finish a marathon and I did and it felt great!