Team Honduras slowly rises to greet the pre-dawn morning. My older sister beside me in the bed and our other teammate, Tiffany, has already popped her head in the room to make sure we haven't accidentally forgotten to get up. Must eat 2 hours before the race, so Rachel gets to work toasting our whole wheat English muffins with almond butter. We decide to wake up the whole house by setting off my overly sensitive fire alarm when toasting the muffins on the stove! Our fourth teammate is Bethany, also team photographer and designated jacket holder for the race! Whom we greatly appreciate!
We manage to
catch an express train down to Columbus Circle. Very fortunate considering we lost a few minutes when we got to the subway and realize someone forgot their Metro card (Tiff)! We MUST be at the start one hour prior to start time so we can use the restroom, stretch, use the restroom, check our bag, use the restroom and warm-up! One of the many new experiences this race allows me to experience... Central Park at sunrise. So peaceful!
We make our way to the corral with all the other heifers, waiting for the race to begin. Lots of people have to say a few inspiring words before we start, none of whom I knew or could hear. We did all pause for the singing of the national anthem. And then slowly but surely the thousands of women around me move from a walk to a jog to a run. And we're off!
Let me preface the account of our race with this: Rachel and Tiffany have been training buddies in Honduras since we signed up in January. They're a little hardcore about it and to be perfectly honest, its been a hard winter in New York City, so I have trained as best I could, kind of. All that to say, I was not 100% sure I could even run the whole 13.1 miles, but my sister and I made a deal that if I never walked, she would stay with me the whole time. Thanks Rachie! Tiffany on the other hand left us on mile 2! She also set a personal best, so we're very proud of her! Also, Rachel and I decided we were going to dedicate each mile to someone we loved, which would motivate us a little extra during the race. Oh! And a last minute decision to run with my iphone allows me to document the journey around the park!
Mile 1 is for
the parents, who recently celebrated 33 years of marriage!I am feeling good and quite pleased with my photography skills in mid-stride! The sun is shining! This is going to be a wonderful run. Mile 2 put us on the the UES near the Great Lawn in park. Still able to converse fairly well with my sister and trying not to think about the approaching hills. Stay present. Stay present. Actually the climb by the boathouse
wasn't so bad. Mile 3 is for our Air Force brother Zac, who is somewhere overseas flying some mission! We're so proud! Mile 4... dreading! The climb on the top side of the park. A slow, gradual incline that just keeps curving and you can never see the crest. However, due to adrenaline or peer pressure, I maintain a positive, almost happy disposition as we receive encouragement from folks clapping and cheering us on! I think they're angels! Mile 4 is dedicated to my roommate Jacob, so I sent him this picture, which woke him up laughing! This inspired him to get out of bed and come down to Central Park to be my lone supporter! I will love him forever for this!We cont
inue traveling down the west side of the park thru Mile 5. Did I mention this race was just loops of Central Park? The park is about 6 miles, so we ran a little over 2 loops. As we pass the Delacorte Theatre (where Shakespeare in the Park is during the summer) I do my best to quote a few lines from a sonnet, but my lungs and brain are a bit short on oxygen to I can't get out much. Mile 6 is for my brother Matt, who just recently visited me! Mile 7 is for brother Adam! And Mile 8 for brother Joey! Good thing I have a large family to fill up these mil
es! You can see the truth start to show in my eyes for these pictures! Mile 9 is for our dear Bethany! And Mile 10 for the Grandparents back in Dallas! Mile 10 is the second adventure with the slow and steady incline at the top of the park! This time I pull the headphones out of my iPhone and allow my sister to be inspired by the tunes! What came on? "Hullaballoo! Caneck! Caneck!" The Aggie War Hymn, which anyone reading this who has never heard of Texas A&M will be ultra-confused, but anyone who knows it and especially is an Aggie will appreciate how brilliant the timing is for this song to play! Definitely got up the hill with that!The foll
owing miles are rollers on the west side and certainly worthy of a great deal of effort. Its amazing how the simplest phrase can really help inspire you through a difficult moment. A woman on the side, maybe even a volunteer, cheers us on with, "Come on ladies! You can do it! Kick this hills ass!" (sorry mom) But it really did help! I thought, "Yeah! Its not gonna beat me! I can keep my legs going!" Which, by the way, each leg weighs 50lbs at this point! Mile 11 is for Krissy, my other roommate. For Mile 12, Rachel and I were a little lost as to who we wanted to dedicate it to. We were out of brothers and parents and grandparents. We decided to devote Mile 12 to my brothers girlfriend, Ashley, whom we love like a sister anyway! And Mile 13, the finale, the home stretch, the coup de gras is dedicated to each other! Awwwww! Aren't we sweet?
! Even the last mile is crazy hard! But there are SO many people around for the last couple miles that there is no way I'm stopping to walk here! We make the turn toward the fountain and the race path gets incredibly narrow. Our teammate, Tiffany, had already finished, so she burst through the crowd to scream, "Go Team Honduras" as we made our final push! Maybe the most people dodging of the entire race is there in that last tenth of a mile! How could someone possibly walk now?! I actually speed up! Rachie & I cross the finish line together!We immedia
tely hit a wall of runners filing through a tiny passage way to receive our medals, apples, bagels, and shiny space capes (not sure what they're really called but this is what I call them). I think a little more planning needs to go into the finish area. Way too narrow! But we did it! I picked up two apples, two bagels and couldn't wait to get my
cape!We snap photos together! Share race stories! Congratulate one another! And bask in the endorphin-induced euphoric state of completing on of the most challenging physical efforts of my life! I am truly surprised I ran the entire race and profoundly awed by what can be accomplished when doubt is shunned and possibility embraced, fully!
The post-race festival ends up being a little lame-o, with not nearly the food we had hoped. We do get a free stretch and on our way out of the park, stop by the bagel/apple station to load up! Delicious & free!
This final image is what I found in my house this morning, three days after the race. Team Honduras has parted ways, with two teammates returning to Honduras and one to Tennessee. Shoes abandoned having surpassed their duties, running more miles than they should through the trails leading to and from Guatemala and the streets of Manhattan. How many conversations do they hold? How many thoughts have they carried? Could there be a better place of rest than laying side by side in the spring sunshine? I sooooo appreciate my sister and Tiffany dumping their old, smelly shoes in my house! Haha! Kidding! I kinda like the memento!
