Flying Pig 2010

I don't have any pictures because it was too wet for me to attempt being a photographer, but I definitely have stories!!!

I signed up for the Relay leg last year as part of a group wide effort at work. I trained to build up to the miles mostly out of not wanting to let my team down -- since I had signed up with a team of females who are pretty athletic and in shape. I really enjoyed the camaraderie and as an added bonus I lost the majority of baby weight I'd been struggling with after two babies. So at the end of the experience last year I decided the next goal would be to sign up for the Half Pig this year, especially because after training so hard for the relay I hadn't kept up with running and the baby weight had caught up with me again.

Someone convinced me to join the Feet Fleet running group which was originally a hassle because of the time commitment and distance from home, but it turned out to make all the difference in the world. I learned things with the group that I would've never learned on my own - such as nutrition, hill training, speed training, etc. It was also a life saver to have a group to run with particularly during the long runs on snowy February Saturdays when all I wanted to do was sleep in. Also, I actually signed up for TWO half marathons a week apart (another story altogether) so I needed to take the training, cross training and nutrition pretty seriously.

On the day of the race we met with our Feet Fleet group at 5:30 am in the Hyatt. I would've skipped out altogether on the race given the awful weather and the fact that I'd done a half just the week before and was honestly afraid (two weeks ago I'd never run a half in my life much less two back to back ones!), but what kept me going was the group (and the pride from public commitments I had made on sites like Facebook!). As we headed to the start line in that big mess I lost my running buddies from the group so I had to end up running all by myself for about 10 miles. That was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. After all, I had purposely built in the group support so that they could push me through on race day and I had ended up losing that group during the most difficult part of the journey. But I kept thinking back to the words one of the Feet Feet coaches said right before the race: "There will be a day when you can't do this...but that day is NOT today". That kept me going ALONE for 10 miles. On mile 10 I was lucky enough to get tapped on the shoulder by some ladies I do spinning with around once a week. They pushed me the last 3 miles and I think they were put there by fate just to keep me going. I know it probably sounds overly dramatic but during a race as hard as that you need motivation wherever you can get it.

Long story short...I think that's the power of group running...the support you get from others which turns into positive peer pressure to always do better, to always stick to your word, to see your commitments through when things are so tough all you want to do is quit. But most importantly, you hope in some part your story can inspire and serve as support for others. Cause if I can do it, honestly ANYONE can.

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I just found the link to the professional pictures, although I'm hidden in most! You can look for me with the light green jacket, blue shirt, black pants, and cap on to try to stay dry. I've looked for some of my friends' pictures and they're all way better than mine but oh well. I still got a medal. :)