The Marathon

February 28th 2010: A day I will never forget.  I ran a marathon! Something I thought I would never do or be able to do.  I started my training hoping to prove something to myself and get my running fitness level back up a year after having Finley. Last Spring, Chris and I sat on the couch one evening and discussed my goal. It would be a commitment from him too as training would be long and hard and would mean him taking care of Finley during the training runs and then sometimes me too, especially after the long ones. He didn't even stop to think.  "Sure". So it was decided.
Let the training begin. This photo to the left is of my training partner, Kimberly and I.  We met through the daycare/"school" where Finley and her son, who is 6 months older, attend.  She has become such a great friend and I am blessed that we have so much in common.  She ran the half marathon that same day but was with me the entire way in spirit. She has ran the marathon distance before more than once, so between her and her competitive level triathlon (Ironman!) husband, I had such great resources to help my training/preparation.
My shirt reads "RHYAN'S HOPE: Hope for all to hear".  I ran in support of an organization called Rhyan's Hope. Check out the story at www.rhyanshope.com. It is an organizanization that helps raise funds for children to receive cochlear implants, that help them learn to listen and speak. When I decided to run, shortly after that, I decided I also need to run for a cause. I wasn't sure how I'd do it or how well it would go, but the charity was easy to decide upon. Well, I mentioned it to the charity founder and president (and Rhyans mommy), who also happens to be named Courtney, via email.  She was thrilled. And through a series of God-lead events, I didn't just work with Courtney to raise money for Rhyan's Hope, I RAN with Courtney to raise money for Rhyan's Hope. Turns out Courtney had hopes of running a marathon too and had been considering it when I wrote to her. Courtney put together a donation/fundraising link on the Rhyan's Hope website and ended up having many family members sign up for shorter distances to raise money too!
Courtney and I talked and trained from miles apart and when we finally met face to face the day before the race, it was as if we'd known each other for a long time. We ran the first nearly 10 miles of the race together. We talked, prayed together, ran together and even shed a tear or two together along that 10 miles. It was amazing. And I raised over $1000... everyone together raised over $3000! God is good.
The support I had from so many makes me emotional even today. I am so blessed. My mom came up the night before and spent the night at the house so that Chris could drive us in the middle of the night (4am) to the starting line. She stayed up with me helping me set out my gear and choose last minute songs for my IPod playlist (Eye of the Tiger and the Rocky theme were her and Chris's picks!). Then she slept on the couch and stayed with Finley, while my sweet husband was awoken super early. My sister and dad called the day before and gave me pep talks. And my coworkers decorated my office with inspiration. How awesome are the people in my life?!!

So 4am came and we drove to the race...
At 6:30 Courtney and I met up and found our place in the crowd at the starting line...
At 7am the gun went off...

I started out very slow, wanting to warm up slowly and scared to go out too fast and waste energy early. Over the first 4-5 miles through Davis Islands we tried not to weave through the walkers and slower joggers too much, advice a running friend had given me on conserving energy and reducing muscle strain. It was hard though because it was a lot slower than my training pace (not that I'm speedy but this was barely a jog). Over the next 5 miles we sped up to find our more comfortable pace. Courtney had the idea that we would dedicate each mile to someone we loved to pray for. It was awesome. I was cruising so comfortably through those first 10 miles. However, around mile 10 the sun was high in the sky warming the weather and Courtney decided she needed to start run/walking. I prayed about whether to stay with her or continue on with my goal to finish without walking. I was urged to continue on and we said our good lucks and see you at the finish line!s and went on. That first quiet mile without her there I was torn about whether to turn back to stay with her. So I prayed harder and literally found myself almost sprinting through mile 12. Around 12 I saw one of my coworkers on the sidelines yelling so loud for me (her husband was also running) that I knew she'd be hoarse the next day... it made me teary. Her daughter was also there, giving me the "thumbs up". I told them "I've got this. I can do this!" And I believed it.

The next few miles were along Bayshore Boulevard-- so beautiful along the water and I worked on focusing on that and God's voice. I could see the other runners from the half marathon running the opposite way on the other side of the street towards the finish line. They neared their finish as I ran further from it towards the second half of my race. I remember thinking..."You're halfway!" And then a few steps later thinking "oh wow... that's only halfway". But I was still feeling pretty good. Around mile 16 I was starting to feel it and looked down to see that I was running faster than I had planned. Probably because I was anticipating seeing Chris, mom, and Finley somewhere around 16 or 17. I concentrated on slowing up to pace and then I saw them.  They didn't see me until I had almost passed them... but it was enough, as I sped up again without even realizing it. At 18 we were in uneven narrower tree-lined streets. People sat in lawn chairs to watch and some even handed out drinks and snacks (fresh strawberries!). We were running towards a park where we would loop around and head back towards the finish. But in the park, around mile 18 I became tired and weary. My Garmin (GPS watch) battery had somehow gone dead. People up ahead were stopping to walk, to stretch. No way would I finish this without walking which was my goal. Running mile 19 was so hard, I wanted to walk so bad but prayed and prayed and prayed and put one foot in front of the other. My mantra was "God is with me". And He was. The girl in front of me had a shirt on that read something like "My head says there's no way I'll finish this but my spirit says there's no way I won't!". It was a moment of inspiration and I felt renewed momentarily. Then... she stopped to walk. Just then I saw my mom and then Chris and Finley... they had moved to the other side of the street for my loop back around.  It was mile 20... and I was feeling it. Ouch. My legs felt so heavy and hard to move but my spirit was light. There was my family. Yelling, clapping, taking pictures. And two of my good friends (Meg and Jimmy) with their son too. Here's some photos they took at that point.

Beginning mile 21, I had a 10k left to run before crossing the finish line.  In the grand scheme of things, a 10k was nothing. But funny-- it felt like FOREVER in my mind. Each step was effort, not so much cardiovascularly, but physically, my muscles were aching. I told myself to relax and take one step at a time. I told myself that God was with me. And then asked Him to make sure :). The last 6 miles were back down Bayshore Blvd. along the waterfront. I saw lots of kids lining the streets and decided to run next to the curb so I could give them all "high 5" as I passed. I could feel their energy and it gave me distraction and a boost. Starting my last 4 miles, I was aching and a bit delirious. A girl I had been running close to stopped and walked. I don't know why, but when I came up next to her I said "Come on! We can do this! Run with me." So she started running with me and said "thanks."  We were quiet for about a quarter of a mile and then I asked her name and told her mine. Another quarter of a mile she said "thanks again, but I just can't." And she walked again. I wanted so badly to stop and walk with her, but in that moment, I didn't.  I know it was God's grace, because my body was done. And mentally I was caving. But my heart, my faith, remained strong. I remember the people in the last couple of miles who made it a point to read my name off of my bib-- the strangers who shouted "GO COURTNEY! You are ALMOST there!! Run!!!" "Finish strong Courtney" "You've got this Courtney!".  I wish I knew how to contact them to thank them now.
In the last mile, I realized why Courtney and I weren't supposed to run the entire race together...  It was so I could finish with Him by my side. My last half a mile I felt God's presence- like someone physically there bedside you. I was overwhelmed by all of it, and cried almost uncontrollably across the finish.  Through tears I saw the finish clock and heard the announcer say "Courtney Olis-uh-ski :) from Apollo Beach, finishing 26.2 miles!"

 I'll never forget that day, truly feeling God's grace and His love for me. So much bigger than the 26.2 mile run. And believe me, that was pretty huge in itself! I wore my medal for days!