Just The Beginning

Virginia is For Lovers 14k - 13 February 2010

Today I set off to run the farthest distance in the history of my existence! When I signed up for this race, it was before I had even heard of Team in Training and it was to be my greatest challenge....until now that is (with 26.2 miles in the back of my mind). The morning started out cold and snowy and turned out to be one of the best days ever!

Just before 8 am, I met up with two awesome Navy women whom I would be running with. In addition, I had an opportunity to meet Suzanne, an intern at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, who I have been corresponding with over the past week. I was so excited to meet her as all of the people in the program have just turned out to be some of the best I have met in my life. Like I said - Awesome People. So here we go....the national anthem, my father's favorite part of anything. As it played, the snow came down and it couldn't be any more beautiful. I was loving it and I knew he was too!

For my first race, I didn't do too shabby if I do say so myself. I came in 926th out of 3,000 runners with a final time of 1:25:17! When they announced my name as I crossed the finish line I couldn't help but think about how truly awesome it was going to sound when I heard my name being announced at that same moment on June 6th in San Diego! For those of you who don't know, that is also my father's birthday. I had a picture of my father with me as he carried me through the race and across that finish line. It was truly an amazing feeling.

So now when I think about running my first marathon and how far 26.2 miles really is, I'm not so intimidated about the large number because I know that I have one heck of a man rooting for me! I love today!