I DID IT!! All 13.2 Miles of It!

I have said for a long time that I wanted to run a marathon.  The more I talked about it, the more I realized that might be a little too crazy.  So, then I decided that I wanted to run a half marathon.  I talked and talked about doing one.  When we got to the point of just waiting for our adoption to progress, I decided that I needed to begin training and give my mind something challenging to concentrate on since thinking about our adoption 24 hours a day wasn't doing me any good.

Low and behold, when I told a friend back in January about my decision, she informed me there was a half marathon in Mt. Clemens (about a half hour from here) at the end of April.  So for the next 3 and a half months, I trained as much as I could.  It was sometimes a big pain in my butt, yet I knew when I accomplished this, I would be so proud of myself.

That was then.

Yesterday was the race.  I did it!  All 13.2 miles.  Yes, a normal half marathon is 13.1, but this one, for whatever reason, was .2.  I was pretty nervous, but really excited to actually be doing one of my lifelong goals.

The weather was sunny, a little chilly, but nice overall.  The first 9 miles were pretty easy.  When I got to mile 10, my running friend and I were both getting tired and sluggish.  We kept encouraging each other.  It was also around mile 10, when I started to get really emotional.  As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, this race symbolized a lot of our journey with infertility and adoption.

At mile 10, I wanted to stop.  I was so close, but I just wanted to be done.  As I was running, I kept thinking about where we are in our adoption journey.  I kept on running.  It made me think that I had traveled all this way and the end was in sight.  Only a few more miles and I would be done.  Although I don't know where we are in the grand scheme of things, and I obviously don't know where or how our baby journey will end.  I have to believe the end is in sight.  I have to believe if I keep running, I will get to that finish as well.  All these thoughts are going through my head at this time.

I kept running.  Despite the pain, despite the fact that I literally had a huge cramp in my rear, despite the fact I just wanted to be done!  I kept running.  I cried a little, but I kept on running.

At about mile 12, I really was hurting.  Then this girl came out of nowhere in a red t-shirt that said on the back, "I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me."--Philippians 4:13.  I saw that I instantly got a little recharge. I started praying that God would give me the strength to finish.  I began to pick up my pace after that.

A short while later, I looked up and saw Jesse on the side of the road.  Cheering me on.  (He had done the relay with a friend and had already finished.  He came to support us close to the finish.)  I really began to tear up when I saw him.  He shouted that we had a little way to go and that I could do it.  I kept running.

Shortly before I saw Jesse, a song came on.  A song that means a lot to me.  A song that when I'm feeling down, helps me to see that looking up is the only way.  "Up," by Shania Twain came on my ipod.  I pushed through the pain and kept thinking UP is the only way to look.  UP is the only way to depend and no matter how down I feel, UP is the answer.  I dug deep, took a deep breath and finished that race running toward my baby.  

I don't know how much longer I have on my infertility/adoption journey, but I do know I have come a long way and each step brings me closer.  So despite the pain I feel, despite the length of time I have been "running" this race.  Despite wanting to give up at times, I will keep on running and one day, I will finish the race.

Here's an old post I posted about the song.