Never Limit Where Running Can Take You

The title of this post is a quote from running great Bart Yasso. Man, is it ever true. I might just be having the best Saturday ever, and it's all thanks to running and the wonderful community I get to be a part of for doing it.

Let's say it's your last weekend with your colon. What do you want to do? This kid decided to run a half marathon. I did find an actual organized race down in Cincinnati that I could have driven down and run, but I decided I'd rather just go the distance with my Saturday morning training group instead. I ended up with three other runners who were at places in their training plan (and close enough to my pace) where they were willing and able to do the run with me. We had perfect weather conditions, most of the trail had dried out or been re-routed by our amazing Parks and Rec folks, and I was pumped up and ready to go.

I was able to run strongly at my desired pace up until about a third of the way into mile 11. At that point I had developed an ache in my left hip and I took a short walk break to let it calm down. As we hit our last water stop, both calves started cramping pretty badly. I switched between running and walking and was able to finish in 2:52. This is a thirty minute plus personal best and I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome.

The coolest part of the whole thing came as we rounded the last little bend to finish up. One of the guys running with me smiled and said, "Now you just need to go run through that finish line down there." I looked up and there was a group of runners from the training group waiting. They had created a finish line which they had stretched out and they all started clapping and cheering. It was all I could do to keep from crying as we ran that last little bit. My husband was waiting there with flowers for me, too. The guy who runs the training program took my picture and also gave me a shirt and a copy of Bart Yasso's book. It was so nice of them to do all of that for me and it really made the moment even more special. Funny side note: I later learned from one of the girls that they'd created the finish line from folded toilet paper. Any of my IBD friends see the irony? All I could was laugh.

I can't help but wonder what I could have accomplished if I would have been able to complete this training cycle. I will never know. I've worked at replacing that thought with wondering how much more I will be able to accomplish once I'm running with a healthy body instead of a diseased one. I can't wait to see where I'm able to go!