October

Day One: nothing.  Mondays are my recovery days.
Day Two: missed it.
Day Three: missed it.  11 hour car trip to Jonesborough, Tennessee.  Not much time or energy left.
Day Four:  Took Riley on a walk in Persimmon Ridge Park.  Beautiful day to be outside!
Day Five: Storytelling festival - walking around the grounds all day.
Day Six: Storytelling festival - walking around the grounds all day.
Day Seven: Last day at the Storytelling Festival.  Cold, wet and rainy.  Spent most of the time in one tent.
Day Eight: 11 hour car trip back to Natchez.
Day Nine: Recovery day.
Day Ten: Missed it.  Billy left town and there was too much to take care of.
Day Eleven: All my time spent holding down the fort.
Day Twelve: Ran 38 minutes.
Day Thirteen: Ran 46 minutes.
Day Fourteen: Cleaned the house (it counts!) and rode my bike to pick up the Sunday newspaper.
Day Fifteen: Recovery day.
Day Sixteen: Ran 50 minutes.
Day Seventeen: Night off.
Day Eighteen: Ran 45 minutes.  Almost race day!
Day Nineteen: Billy's birthday!  We went out to eat and I got ready for tomorrow.
Day Twenty: Race Day!  3.1 miles in 35 minutes!
Day Twenty-one: Walked for 20 minutes.  I forgot to be somewhere and Billy dropped me off when we remembered and I had to walk home.
Day Twenty-two: Drove back to Natchez from Monroe and attended board meeting.  No time to run.
Day Twenty-three:  Ran 41 minutes on the hotel treadmill.
Day Twenty-four:  Missed it.  Working out of town and we worked later.
Day Twenty-five: Ran 30 minutes on the hotel treadmill.
Day Twenty-six: Nothing tonight.  Just got home after being gone all week.
Day Twenty-seven: Chili cook-off and board function.  Got some walking in between activities.
Day Twenty-eight: Face plant on the sidewalk after running, hard, for 25 minutes.  In pain and so disappointed.
Day Twenty-nine: Nothing.  Knee still doesn't bend and is swollen considerably.
Day Thirty:  Nothing.  Knee still swollen.
Day Thirty-one: Nothing.  Can maneuver some upstairs, but still not downstairs.

Injuries are the pits!  But you have to take them seriously or you'll end up doing more damage, possibly permanently.

35:24

Two of over 4,300 pairs of feet ready to run in Alexandria, Louisiana on October 20, 2012. 

My friend, Kathy, and I left Natchez at 5:30 in the morning to make the 2 hour drive.  Opening ceremonies were at 7:30.  It was dark and it was COLD!

But what a celebration we found when we got there!

The streets were packed with people!  Walkers, runners, all colors, shapes and sizes!  And all there for one purpose.  To shed light and support on breast cancer research.

We "Zumba'd" in the middle of the street to warm up.

We stretched and walked and paced.

We cheered as the promoters pumped up the crowd.

And then we lined up.

The "competitive" runners got to get in the front.  We will be competitive runners next year.  And we wiggled in not far behind them.  Just the two of us.  No pets or strollers or anything like that. 

And then the longest 30 minutes of our lives started.  We waited.  And waited, and waited.

Finally, countdown,

5....4....3....2...1 Go!

We had agreed earlier that we would each run our own race and meet up at the finish line.  And so we took off.  

I ran to my music.  Not really ordered like I would prefer, but good, fast tunes.  I started working my way through the other runners.  Some would pass me, and I'd pass others.

Before the first mile mark, there was a group of young cheerleaders on the street corner.  Probably 6th grade or junior high school.  And as I and the others ran past we heard " YOU'RE. AWESOME.  YOU'RE. AWESOME".

I admit, I had tears in my eyes at that point.  I don't know why. 

I guess because I didn't feel awesome.  The awesome ones are the ladies fighting the fight everyday.  Chemo.  Radiation.  Doctor's appointments.  Surgeries.  And still getting up every day and living their lives.

That's awesome.

But Alexandria certainly did make me feel special.  The high school band drum corp was there along with more cheerleaders as you made the final turn before the finish line.  The residents of the neighborhood through which we ran had their homes decorated and stood outside and cheered, some even passing out water.

And the finish line was festooned with pink balloons and surrounded by supporters.  The local television station even streamed the entire run live.  

As I approached the finish line, I could see the official time clock.  From my angle, all I could see was the last three numbers - basically the seconds and the second number of the minutes.  I could see a 5.  Well, I thought, that must be a 45.  I felt like I'd been running slower than normal.  I usually run with Doozer and without him to set the pace, I was sure I'd been lagging.  

Imagine my shock and surprise to see it was a 35!  

Almost 3 full minutes faster than my last race.  Such a proud accomplishment! 

It was Kathy's first run.  She finished in about the same time as I did on my first one - 38 minutes and change.  I waited for her at the finish line and cheered as she crossed over.

We had our bananas and water and grabbed our freebies and recovered.  Then started the two hour journey back home.  On our drive, we were already planning what we'd do differently next year.

I like running for causes.  I'm learning to love running in general, but knowing that I'm helping someone while doing something good for me, makes it all a no brainer.

Now, my goal every time is just to finish.  If I can do better than the last one, then so much the better.  My only competition is me.

And that always makes me a winner.