Happy Meatless Monday. I have missed sharing with you in daily blog posts and am so glad to be back here again with Exploits friends. We were without internet access throughout our entire trip. It was both a blessing and a nightmare. Deadlines were missed and blog posts sat in Word document purgatory. I have so much to share about the run, vegan edibles, animal sanctuaries and chocolate so good it left me speechless, so I will just begin and work on it throughout the week. This is what I wrote the day before and the day of the half marathon. This has been one of the most magnificent journeys of my life.
11/19/11
I am in the backseat of the car, riding with Sandy and my sister-in- law Kath. We are making the three and a half hour drive from Stuart to St. Petersburg, Florida where we will be running our race. We are going straight to the Expo to pick up our race packets and bib numbers. I am nervous. Sitting here for hours is allowing my mind to wander to exciting and terrifying race day scenarios. I can hardly believe it is here. It feels both like the night before Christmas and the night before my own execution. I am simultaneously terrified and calm…. ready. The first three days of our vacation have been glorious. I have shown my beautiful and brilliant nephews and niece how to create a vegan chocolate pie, sailed a Hobie Cat in the ocean and enjoyed many bottles of excellent red wine. In three short days the blazing Florida sun has warmed my body and fed my soul. I love the heat. My freckles have returned and I feel more like myself. Its time to run a half marthon. I have done the runs, I have put in the time. Fear can be fleeting if we let it. I am trying to treat it like a package coming to the door that I did not order. “No thank you…please return to sender.” I will allow myself all the joy, tears and pride this success may bring. I will be there, fully present in the warm and sunny glow of my finishers medal. Thank you for coming with me on this journey.
Have a delicious day.
Began this post on 11/20/11 and worked on it a little at a time for several days.
I am sitting on the balcony of our condo watchiing the sun set on one of the most prideful days of my life, having completed the race. I feel elated, exhausted and present. This morning our condo was alive with equal parts tension, excitement and fear. There were five people readying to get out the door at 6:00am in order to be at the start line at 6:30. In an effort to connect with something more solid than terror, I stood on the balcony in the pitch black of morning listening to the surf crash on the beach. The sky over the ocean was perfectly clear and lit up like a planetarium. It was magnificent. It promised a warm, sunny day for a run. I could not believe this day had finally come.
Photo By: F. Boulton
The energy at the start line was unlike anything I have ever experienced. There were 10,000 women including myself, about to race toward their own personal best. It was unbelievable. I could not hold back the tears. They came and I let them because pride and fear are both tear worthy. As we all began to run forward I kept thinking, “I cant believe I am running my first half marthon.” We ran along the ocean, past a bird sanctuary and by throngs of people cheering. Because our names were on our bibs, they used our proper names to encourage us,”Great job Sherry. You’ve got this. “It was an anonymous lifeline when my energy was waning.
There were Gatorade stops and Gu gels to enjoy and then all of a sudden I realized that the first ten miles were behind me. They flew by as if I were running around the block. I found myself feeling disappointed that it was going by so fast. Why are we running so fast? Its going to end too soon. Just after the ten mile mark we ran into and through Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. We ran around the field just outside the bases. It was so exciting and strange. As we ran out of the stadium, debilitating pain tried to stop our flow of awesome, but we didn’t let it in. It showed up again at eleven then at twelve. We just kept running.
I could hear them cheering before I could see them. I faintly heard the music pumping at the finish line. A spectator yelled from the sidewalk,”You are almost there ladies, just around the corner.” That instantly became my mantra until we made it there…just around the corner. We finally ran around that corner and I saw it, my point one mile remaining, my victory lap. The huge metal structure finish line was finally in sight. I had visualized this moment hundreds of times over the past six months, but I was not prepared for what it would actualy feel like. The straight away was lined with thousands of people cheering and screaming our names.
It was so overwleming that in that very instant, all the air escaped from my lungs and I began to heave, searching for air. I was fighting the type of howling crying you usually save for tragedy and evidently also for moments of raw excitement and pride. This level of unpredictable, untamable emotion I felt was exactly what it had felt like when my dad died unexpectedly, twenty six years ago. It had been locked away until now, as if searing pain had finally found its equal and opposite emotional response, incomprehensible joy and love. It was terrifying and familiar. It made me unable to take even a sliver of breath. It was absolutely crazy. Not only did I contuinue to run, I ran faster. I was smiling and crying and running across the finish line holding Sandy’s hand, It was positively surreal.
The next few moments went by as if in a dream. We continued to walk forward and a cracked open bottle of water was handed to us, then a member of our U.S. military put my medal around my neck. The weight of it was substantial and profound. It was heavy like armour, like a chainmail of accmplishment. The feeling was so big and so raw I think it washed over me without comprehension.
I wore my medal like it was a necessary part of my existence for the rest of the day. I wore it to the restaurant, to the grocery store and back to the condo. I didn’t want to take it off but eventually acquiesced that I should shower. We poured ourselves into bed at 7:30 pm. I slept the deep dreamless sleep of a bear tucked in for winter.
In the days that have followed I have looked at the photos on my camera for proof that it really happened. It did and I really did it. I ran a half marathon.
It was easier than I thought it would be and much harder than I could have ever imagined. It was scarier than I thought possible and more fun than I could have ever known. The feeling I felt crossing the finish line is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It eclipsed my expectations. This entire journey has, from the first day of training to the glorious finish line. It has been so much larger than I ever could have thought. It has changed me and I thank you for sharing in it with me.
Tomorrow I will post the winners of the Seven Days of Gratitude Giveaway.
Have a delicious day.
Tags: going veg, Kale Trail update, plant based diet, trying vegan, trying vegetarian, vegan, vegan athlete, vegan challenge, vegan experience, vegan half marathoner, vegan transition, vegan wannabe
I wore my medal like it was a necessary part of my existence for the rest of the day. I wore it to the restaurant, to the grocery store and back to the condo. I didn’t want to take it off but eventually acquiesced that I should shower. We poured ourselves into bed at 7:30 pm. I slept the deep dreamless sleep of a bear tucked in for winter.
November 28th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I’m glad you’re back! I’ve missed your encouraging posts over the Thanksgiving holiday. I am so proud of you for finishing that marathon! It sounded SO intimidating! Thank you for sharing your experience
November 28th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
¸.•*★*•.¸¸.•*☆ Congratulations! ☆*•.¸¸.•*★*•.¸
You’ve worked so amazingly hard to reach this joy-filled milestone on your journey.
So proud of you for facing your fear and pain, working with them and rising above them!
You set your goals in this and so many other things, grow stronger, falter, persevere, learn and celebrate…inspiring yourselves and us too! Many thanks and hugs to you both! Looking forward to more details of your day in the sun!
November 28th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Congratulations!!!
November 29th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
I cannot tell you both how proud I am of you for accomplishing this milestone. You are both incredible women!! love you lots xoxo
December 3rd, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Kathy,
Thank you for supporting us and inspiring us with your actions. You have always shown us that athletic women are beautiful, strong and unstoppable.
December 3rd, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Thank you Amanda. The actual experience eclipsed my expectations. I continue to look at the photos to make sure it really happened. Thank you for your continued support.
December 3rd, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Nik,
Thank you for your unwavering support. Your comments and enthusiasm have been like a much needed water station during a really long run, they came just in time. I am incredibly grateful for the support and enthusiasm.
December 5th, 2011 at 1:16 am
Wow, your story was so amazing and inspiring..told with so much emotion that it made me tear up at your success! Wow! I gasped when I read at 12 mile mark…what is the total for a half marathon? Is it 13?, again Wow! and Congratulations to both of you!
December 10th, 2011 at 11:04 am
What a great blog. Congratulations on your victory. By the way…what a wonderful writer you are. Maybe your next challenge to take on should be a novel.
with love
December 11th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Heather,
Thank you very much. I would love very much to turn Exploits into a book and am looking for an editor/literary agent to love it as much as I do.