Tuesday afternoon I talked to my Mom and she told me about this little 5K that was going to take place on Thursday morning, the 14th Annual Turkey Trot. I looked it up asked Jason if he was interested and he said, "sure, why not!" I jumped on that asked B&K if they wanted to participate too (B said yes, K said something about sleeping in to save up strength for pumpkin pie), I was able to sign the three of us up about 15 minutes before the deadline. I called my brother, Mark & his family and asked them if they were interested - they seemed hesitant but said they'd decide Wednesday. We left early Wednesday morning, met up with Mark and his family in Sherman at Chic-fil-a had lunch and proceeded on our journey to Ozark MO. After several near miss Z potty breaks we made it to MO in just over 12 hours (today we made it home in just over 10 - potty breaks really eat your time!). While we were traveling I found out that my nephew Shawn was planning on running with us and then after just a little bit of persuading Justin joined the ranks too. We got up EARLY Thursday and made our way to downtown Springfield in 28 degree weather - brrr. Turns out that this LITTLE 5K is actually the biggest in the state (according to the race officials) and this year they had over 5000 participants! Wow - this was the biggest 5K I've ever done. It didn't really occur to me until we started lining up that I hadn't thought out how we would meet up with all the boys at the end - thankfully Mark showed up to take some pictures and he decided to stay. Phew - he kept an eye out for everyone and collected B when he was done. Jason & I started the race together. We were cruising along smiling and waving at any cameras that we saw (hoping to get our moment of fame on TV) and checking out the fun costumes. Before I knew it I had gone over a mile (without walking!). At that point I decided that I had to try for 2 miles without walking. Somewhere in the midst of that I lost Jason but kept on running. Something I learned from my friend (and coach) Adrien was positive self talk - instead of saying okay when I get to that stop sign I'm going to walk I said to myself, "when you get there you can evaluate why you want to walk." By the time I finished mile 2 I knew that I had to run the whole thing - funny thing is that I never dreamed that this would be the race that I would run the whole thing - I honestly intended to walk quite a bit of it (not sure why). As I ran up the slight incline by the church where I married the greatest guy in the world almost 15 years ago I continued my PMA (positive mental attitude) and said, "look how much you've done you can't stop now, you can do this!" I ran through the square and down a hill. At the top of the hill I had a very brief moment of dread thinking that when you go down you have to eventually go up again but I couldn't waste time thinking about that. I continued on like the little engine that could until I came around the corner and my moment of dread was realized - a short but STEEP hill was right in front of me and at the end of it was.... you guessed it the finish line! I put my head down and said there was NO WAY I was walking up that hill, I refused to look at the top of the hill and just kept chugging. I did it!! I ran a 5K without walking, I felt like I won that race - who cares that I came in 2574th (do they do medals for that?). It didn't matter, I ran farther this Thanksgiving than I ever have in my life and I am so proud! The best part? My nephews, husband and son did this with me AND the boys were all on TV and on the front page of the newspaper (okay so you need a magnifying glass to see them but I can see them!).
Pictures of the race to follow - waiting on my big brother to send them to me. Until then I have some that will make you happy.
The "Cousin It" look
Now isn't that better?
Presents from Our Debbie & Our Michael
B with his flock of geese (at the park)
My sweet girls making the ride go faster this afternoon
3 comments:
Way to go, Sherry! Also - Jason, B, Shawn and Justin! Sounds like it was a good race for you all! Yes, Sherry, I think they must have a special medal just for you!! Finally a picture of K! I was wondering if she was with you - didn't see one on Facebook either. Kind of hard curling up with the seatbelts on, huh?? Glad you all had a great weekend! Love, bmg
What an awesome story! I am so impressed with you PMA and your determination! What a special memory for Thanksgiving 2008.
Glad you guys are back home, safe and sound. Totally know what you mean about the potty breaks eating up your time! We found the killer to be nursing breaks, when we drove up to Kansas for my sister's wedding and Ben was only 6 weeks old.
Wow, that's amazing! I'm so proud of all of you, especially you Sherry. I can't wait to see pictures! Glad you are home and hope we can see you soon.
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