I did it! On Saturday May 5^thI completed by third ½ marathon. I’m pleased with myself, but I am so proud of my little sister. She ran circles around me! But I guess that’s what happens when you actually complete your training program. I’ll have to keep that in mind for our next run.

We arrived in Columbus on Friday in time to pick up our packets and attend the reception hosted by Black Girls Run! The day did not actually go as planned, but it turned out just fine. From our hotel, we had to walk to the location to pick up our packets. The walk wasn’t much more than ½ a mile, but as we were walking doubt began to set in my mind. Although no one else seemed to notice, there was a slight incline up the road to the pickup location. I was thinking how I had hardly trained to run on flat terrain and I damn sure was not prepared to take on any inclines, no matter how slight. I expressed my concerns and my travel mates laughed at me. How was I ever going to get through the next day and 13.1 miles? On a side note, my 10 year old niece complained the entire walk about her need for an umbrella. The day was overcast, rain was eminent and her biggest concern was her freshly flat ironed hair.

Anyway, we finally reach the packet pickup location. Only to find out that my packet was not there. What the hell!?! As it turned out, a member of the Cleveland BGR group picked up everyone’s packets. This of course was a really nice gesture, but since I did not know about the group plan, I was pissed! But I was able to get another race bib, so it turned out fine. No big deal.

Fast forwarded to bedtime. I had an awful time sleeping. I kept picturing race day and in my vision I quit the race. Race day got started in a bit of a panic. Even though I had pigged out the night before on a giant plate of pasta I was desperately in need of some food. My sister and I set out to find something to sustain us during the race. The hotel restaurant was super slow and they had $4.00 bagels. I know right…highway robbery! The Starbucks on the main level of the hotel was not open. The bakery in the hotel atrium…closed. What were we going to do? We needed food! The night before we’d noticed a CVS pharmacy so we set out to see if they were open. I figured they’d be closed since they were located on the race route, but the nights were on so we started walking. Luckily before we got too far we happened upon a coffee shop that was normally closed on Saturday’s but had opened for race day. Smart people! Because my little sister has been bitten by the running bug, she had read up on the subject and knew that we should add a little peanut butter to our bagels. So now with food in hand we headed for the corral. The last one of course, we’re slow runners.

The excitement was mounting as more and more people began to gather. I was pumped, but still worried that I would crash and burn. My sister was nervous, this was her first race and while she had trained, she had not yet run with 13,000 others at the same time. There were all kinds of runners, young, old, fat, skinny, black, white, men, women; and we were all excited and anxious awaiting the start of the race. Finally, the shot rang out, and we were off.

Did I mention that the Capital City ½ Marathon also included a ¼ Marathon? I had never heard of a ¼ Marathon, but I was grateful for option. Remember how I had not trained? And remember how I saw myself quitting? Well what I actually saw was me punking out and taking the path of the ¼ marathon. That was respectable right? 6.55 miles is nothing to sneeze at. The ¼ marathon split was at mile 3 so I had some time to make a decision.

Back to the run, we’re off and running. We’re running and just like I discovered on the day before the route was not exactly flat. I was having a hard time and we were not even at mile 2 yet. There was no way, I was going to finish this race. I was panting and sweating, it was awful! What the hell had I gotten myself into? Why hadn’t I trained? Of course, when you’re on the race course, it’s a bit too late to be asking these questions. So I left going and going and going; albeit slowly, but I was going now the less. Before the race I told me sister, not to worry about keeping up with me. If the time came for her to leave me, she should do so. That time came around mile 2. She was gone! And I was struggling.

As I approached mile 3 and the ¼ marathon split off I became nervous. What was I going to do? Give up? Or keep going? Straight ahead or take the turn? Decisions, decisions, decisions. I had told all these folks that I was running the ½ marathon. What was I going to say on Monday? I quit? No way in hell. I’m no quitter! So I keep going! I passed the turn off and set my mind to finish the ½ marathon. Even if it took the entire 4 hours allotted for the race, I was determined to finish.

The course was brutal. The scenery was bland and the crowds were non-existent. The course was dangerous. I had never been in a race where I was running along the side of moving cars. There were even points along the route were runners had to stop to allow cars to pass. Not good. But what could I do? Suck it up and move on. So I kept going.

It was not until mile 6 that I truly felt I was going to be able to complete the race. Some would say that I got my second wind, but based on my performance I was sure it was just my first wind finally kicking in. Anyway I kept running/walking, running/walking, and running/walking. Around mile 12 I saw a familiar sight, it was my sister. How had I managed to catch up with her? I called out her name and it dawned on me that she wouldn’t hear me, she had on headphones. So I mustered up all the strength I had to run faster so I could catch up to her. She was surprised to see me. Since she had not seen be in 10 mile (150 minutes) she thought I had taken the loser turn off at mile 3.

I was very happy to have found her. The goal was to run the race tighter and while we ran at our own pace I was elated to be able to cross the finish line together. We did it!