Three days of craziness. That's what I had just before the start of the Vulture's Knob 9.7 mile trail race in Wooster on May 28th. My daughter had gotten lasik surgery on her eyes in Rockville, MD and I accompanied her on this adventure. Yesterday was particularly nuts. Two flights (one of which was delayed by well over an hour), a three hour drive from Pittsburgh, no food for 12 hours, not enough sleep, and enough stress and aggrivation to last me a lifetime. I suppose, given these circumstances, it shouldn't have come as any surprise that when the gun went off, I had zero energy and fell into the very back of the pack immediately. My body felt fine but I felt like I couldn't run. When I got to the first aid station, which was back at the start, I told Melissa that I had "nothing". She asked if I would finish. I responded "of course, I ALWAYS finish", but I'm thinking "it might not be pretty". At this point, I am on course for a three hour finish. Not spectacular, to be sure.
The course was an old landfill that was turned into a mountain bike course. As I am running, I'm thinking about Melissa and Rick who are mountain bikers and thinking, "talk about badasses, I can't imagine riding a bike on this terrain"! The course was pretty muddy but I've been on worse, this terribly rainy spring.
Sometime around mile six or so I got lost and went in a big loop. When I came around, I bumped into the only person behind me, Cat. We were trying to figure out which way to go. Luckily we picked the correct way. She was walking, so I walked with her for a while. We chatted and I found out she was a triathlete who had gotten injured and gained a bunch of weight when she couldn't train. She is attempting to get active again and I tried to encourage her. Soon, she saw that I wanted to run and she sent me on my way. I felt a little guilty as I know how bad it sucks to be all alone in the back of the pack.
Around mile seven I hear voices. I look up and it's Lee and Gabe!! They had already finished and came back to look for me. Lee was the first woman overall and Gabe placed in his age group and got in the top ten overall for the first time ever!! I am blessed to know so many amazing runners and realize that I am surrounded by greatness. They came back to run me in! What wonderful friends I have! They kept me company and helped make my weariness more bearable. I told them about the rough few days I had, about the stress over my daughter's surgery. They were encouraging and cheerful, and offered great running tips. Pretty soon, the finish line is less than a half a mile away. I'm struggling now, the lack of energy has really taken it's toll on me but because they were with me, I ran way more than I walked, which probably wouldn't have happened had I been alone.
I came around the corner, knowing the finish line was right there. As I passed through, many people cheered! It was amazing as I was the second to last finisher and I rarely get to hear cheers as most people have already left by the time I finish. I struggled with an impending asthma attack while everyone was giving me high fives and "atta boys". I felt so blessed to have such wonderful friends!!
After a while, I went to the finish line and asked Vince if the last girl had come through yet. He said "no" and I got a little worried. Then, seconds later, Cat appeared from around the corner and crossed the finish line. We cheered for her, like they cheered for me. She was beaming.
Today, I found out how great it is to have good friends and how to be a friend to someone I don't even know.
Trail runners rock!!
1 comment:
Good race! Enjoyed reading the race report.
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