4 days straight of posting!! :D Hope you're not getting tired of them!! Here comes more...no graphic content this time though!
Sunday
March 22, 2015:
Sunday
morning was here before we knew it…and so I got ready quickly, had some coffee,
ate a Greek yogurt, went to the bathroom slightly afraid of what could happen
today in the porta-potties! Before we knew it we were on our way to the Dart
station to head to the start line. This year there was no official designated
parking area for the half marathon…but it ended up working out for our benefit.
We just took the dart railway which is just down the street from David and Elise’s
place and that took us directly to the start line! We didn’t have to worry about parking so that was nice.
We made
it to the start with roughly 30 minutes to spare and so we each went to the
bathroom…before actually sitting on the commode I sat about 20+ feet of toilet
paper in each direction of the toilet making a lovely thrown for my toosh to
sit on…not wanting a repeat of yesterday’s misfortunes! Thankfully no one had a
tragic porta-potty story and so we all continued on to check our bags and head
towards the start line.
It was
already determined that Erika was going to run with David where his goal was to
run the half in an hour and fifty minutes! I was going to run with Olivia and
encourage her as she ran her first half marathon!! So we all took a pre-run
picture at reunion tower together…
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| Excited to get our run on!! |
…from
there Erika and David headed to their start corral and Olivia and I headed to
ours!! :D David and Erika were really fortunate to be such speedy runners
because they got to start almost right away…I believe they were in corral three
right behind the Olympic medalist Deena Kastor! Olivia and I were in Corral 13
so by the time we actually got started David and Erika had already been running
for about 40 minutes…I told Olivia that by that point they had already ran about 4 miles!!
But
hey…while we were waiting we took advantage of the selfie time:
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| Feeling the excitement of our run! |
I could
tell that Olivia was nervous and she got a little emotional at the start of it
all…which I could completely understand. I felt bad that we had to wait so long
to actually get it started. With all of my runs I’ve done I’ve made it there in
just enough time to jump into my corral and go…so there hasn’t been that extra
time to think about what’s about to happen, if you can do it, and the
challenges you’re going to have to overcome.
Finally,
after the wait we were on our way! This years course was different from last
year and I absolutely LOVED it! Initially we ran through some gorgeous
buildings and the architecture was so beautiful. We got to run through the
historic site where JFK was shot, we ran over a bridge and came back over the
Margaret Hunt Hill bridge which is so amazing and the point where I actually
took out my phone for a picture is when we were just past the bridge and
had an awesome view of downtown Dallas:
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| Beautiful Downtown Dallas...and as you can see it was a lovely overcast day! |
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| A glance of reunion tower where we had started out! |
At that
point we were at mile 8 and Olivia was doing awesome! We had been running for
just under 2 hours and we got the text that Erika and David had completed the
half in 1:51:41!!! We kept on trekking and around mile 9 is when I noticed
Olivia having a hard time…there comes a time in everyone’s run…especially where
you have expectations for yourself that you start to struggle…all those
thoughts, emotions, doubts, fear etc come rushing into your mind telling you
that you can’t do it…so I just kept encouraging her and reminding her that she
could do it. At one point she said, “I’m doing this so the boys can see that
they can do whatever they set their mind to!” What a great reason and example
to set for her kiddos!! So regardless of the pain, doubt, and fear she had she
kept pushing! From mile 9-10 there was a strip where music was playing
continually…it was awesome and a great way to keep the runners pumped and
pushing. I was texting Erika updates and around mile 10 she said they were
going to start walking towards us to run the last bit with us. At mile 11 we
turned onto my most favorite scenic part: turtle creek…it’s so beautiful and it
was lined with spectators.
At mile
12 we spotted Erika and David and they hopped in with us! It was so much fun to
be able to have them join us so we could all finish together. At one point we
were passing one of the camera mans…and in true David fashion he jumped up in
the air hoping for his mad hops to be captured on film…they cameraman told him
to do it again to which David obliged and the guys said, “GOT IT!” Well…he sure
did…I haven’t bought the picture so there’s still the copyright across the screen
but I had to share:
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| David has mad hops!! |
With
about half a mile left to go Olivia picked it up and started running…and with
maybe 0.2 miles left Olivia grabbed my hand and we sprinted to the finish
lines!! It was one of the most fun finishes I’ve ever done…filled with joy,
pride, and excitement!!! SHE DID IT!!! :D Olivia ran her first half marathon!!
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| Pure Joy!! |
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| So proud of Olivia!! |
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| We did it!! |
We went
through the finishers shoot and collected as many goodies as possible. Maybe
like a dozen power bars, several Gatorades, some chocolate milk, bags of potato
chip, you name it we grabbed it! We then went and collected our checked bags so
we could pull out our sweaters and warmer clothing…Erika and Olivia went to the
bathroom…I passed on that ;) We went and bought a couple tops to commemorate
the day:
After we
hit up the Dunkin Donuts tent and got some free iced coffee we then went to
retrieve our free beers. After we retrieved our beverages David or Erika I
can’t remember which pointed to the tent and said, “Hey it’s the girl from
yesterday!” And sure enough…there she was…Annie was her name, I believe. She is
the woman that took our picture in front of woolly the mammoth the day before!
She was so genuine and sweet and has such an electric personality that catches
you the minute you make eye contact with her. So we had to take a picture with
her as well!!
Afterwards we walked to the Dart Station and waited for our train to arrive. Once on the train Erika and David told us what they saw happen on their walk to find us as we were finishing our run. Just beyond mile 12 there was a man on the ground and a woman was performing CPR on the individual. There was a band at that area and David said they didn't stop playing but they played quietly and respectfully. Although people were watching it sounded like everyone was being respectful and not panicking. Erika said she and David just held each other and prayed for the man and the woman performing CPR and at one point Erika felt the Holy Spirit leading her to say, "In Jesus Name that heart start beating again" and shortly after she said that they put a blanket over the man...people started to clear and Erika said she could see the man taking big deep breathes. As it turns out throughout the run there are individuals running uniforms called Race Guards. These are individuals who are trained in First Aid, CPR, and AED trained. The woman performing CPR on the gentleman was Dr. Laura Dowd. Erika and David went up to her later and thanked her for what she did...she said when the man came to he said something along the lines of, "Thanks babe" to which she replied, "That's Dr. Babe to you!" :D What an awesome organization to be a part of and what a testament to the power of prayer and those who respond to the calling! Has me thinking I should look into being a part of the Race Guards!
Well after our eventful day we went home, napped, hit up the park for a barbecue and fun evening with family and friends!! It was indeed a great day!
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