Yesterday I had the opportunity to run the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon in downtown with Stac. It was a race that I have spent the last 10 weeks training for and have run in the past. This year I even beat my time from last year so I knew I was capable of finishing. However, as we began to climb the last set of hills making up miles 11.5 to the finish, I began to have doubts that I would finish and just wanted to be done. I was really hot, thirsty, my legs felt like jello, my arm was numb and I had a side cramp I couldn’t shake off (all probably a mixture of my lack of quality training and the warm weather). What kept me going was Stac cheering me on, the crowd cheering me on, and the people running the race along side of me. It is encouraging when a fellow runner sees you struggling and gives you that extra “you can do it” or “almost there.” Thank you to all those people who I knew and those who I didn’t for supporting the racers.
More importantly it is inspiring to see those people who are running the race for a variety of reason. One group was running it to raise money for cancer awareness in honor of their friend whose mom recently died of lung cancer. There were others running in honor of those Missing in Action and a group of church members running to provide clean water to those who lack it. (Ummm I started this blog in lecture and now can’t remember where I was going with this paragraph)
For me the 24 hours I spent in St. Louis before, during, and after the race was much needed time away from school. I didn’t see it this way before the race; instead it was going to be time away from studying. On the drive to the St. Louis I decided that I was going to enjoy the time away, a mini vacation perhaps. By making this decision something else happened, I was able to regain some perspective that I have lost in the past 3 months. There was time for laughter, to meet new people outside the field of health care, and experience new places, basically realizing that there is more than just school. Right now school may consume my life but it doesn’t need to define who I am.
Meg
More importantly it is inspiring to see those people who are running the race for a variety of reason. One group was running it to raise money for cancer awareness in honor of their friend whose mom recently died of lung cancer. There were others running in honor of those Missing in Action and a group of church members running to provide clean water to those who lack it. (Ummm I started this blog in lecture and now can’t remember where I was going with this paragraph)
For me the 24 hours I spent in St. Louis before, during, and after the race was much needed time away from school. I didn’t see it this way before the race; instead it was going to be time away from studying. On the drive to the St. Louis I decided that I was going to enjoy the time away, a mini vacation perhaps. By making this decision something else happened, I was able to regain some perspective that I have lost in the past 3 months. There was time for laughter, to meet new people outside the field of health care, and experience new places, basically realizing that there is more than just school. Right now school may consume my life but it doesn’t need to define who I am.
Meg
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