I got up bright and early and headed off to the Polar Dash with two of my favorite people, my sister in law, Suzi, and her husband, Gary. It was so nice to have such great company prior to the race and after the race, and even at the couple of points where we saw each other for a thumbs up or high five during the race. Running is so much better with friends and family.
To say it was cold is a bit of an understatement. I took my gloves off for about 60 seconds to get something situated and my fingers were painfully frozen. Thank God for portable heaters and Hot Hands.
I went into the race with no expectations at all. I was excited about running and just enjoying a great start to 2014. We headed to the starting line at 8:58, hoping to stay in the warmish parking garage up until the very last minute. We were headed on our way shortly after making it there. Waiting for a race to start goes much faster when you have people to chat with :-)
Waiting for the race to start
I started the race feeling really good. I focused on starting slow. I let a whole lot of people go by me as I just kept my pace. I made it to the 1 mile mark and my phone told me I was going around a 12:59 pace, which was right where I wanted to be. Shortly after the 1 mile mark, I saw a gentleman sauntering slowly wearing a jacket that said "Yesh Tikveh Gives Hope, I am Healthy, I am Strong."
I wasn't sure what Yesh Tikveh meant, but I told myself it was Hebrew for one of the names of God. In that moment, as I was running, I stopped to thank God that I was healthy and strong enough to be running a 10K in the frigid cold. I spent most of mile 2, which is always the hardest for me, praising and thanking God for all of the blessings in my life, all of the things that I often take for granted.
This corresponded so well with my Bible Study from this morning. I spent some time in Deuteronomy 8 this morning as part of my Nehemiah study. One of the verses that really stuck out to me, and a large focus on the study today, was about remembering to be thankful to God for everything in our life. Nothing we have is of our own doing. EVERYTHING comes from God.
And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Deuteronomy 8:10It is no secret that I have a really hard time being thankful. I am much more prone to focus on the negative aspects in my life. In that moment, I decided that 2014 was going to be a year of thanks. I AM healthy, I AM strong. I have so much to be thankful for. God has blessed me immensely, and I need to do a much better job of thanking him for it.
Every time I wanted to walk or things got hard, I just kept repeating, I am healthy, I am strong, thank you God, WE have got this.
The minute things started to go south for me during the Monster Dash and the months following was when I started taking credit for my training and the preparation I had done. Today, I knew that I needed God to get me through this race. What a difference that made.
As the faster runners made the turn at the 3 mile mark and started coming back towards us, I cheered them on. I noticed that rather than slowing down, like I normally would at that point, I was actually speeding up. I started to get kind of nervous, as every time my phone told me my average pace as mile markers went on, it was getting faster. I didn't know how I could sustain that, but God had big plans for me today.
A while before I made it to the turnaround, I saw Gary heading back and he was looking good, we gave each other a thumbs up and kept running. Shortly after the turnaround, I saw Suzi, and we high fived each other. So much love!
When we finally made it to mile 5 and my pace was still faster, I knew that I had this. I gave that last 1.2 miles everything I had. I was passing people. I NEVER pass people.
As I neared the finish, I saw the timer and it said 1:16, and I BOOKED it.
My goal for the race, before I ended up with all the crazy stress related chest pains and had to take a couple of weeks off, was 1:18:00. I didn't think there was any way I was going to accomplish that today.
There is hope.
11:52 minute miles. That is UNHEARD of for me. That is a faster average pace than my personal best 5K (12:09), which was the Polar Dash from last year. My splits were ridiculous.
This was not me. This couldn't have been me. My legs felt strong. I was smiling the entire time and I felt joy. I was enjoying running again for the first time in a long time. God was running with me today because I asked him to and I actually let him for a change.
When I got home, I googled Yesh Tikveh because I was really curious what it meant. I found this website - http://yeshtikveh.com/index.html
Turns out, the guy I saw, was a 61 year old who used to be a body builder and then suffered a disabling stroke. He was doing the 14 miler today because God give him hope and he wants to share that hope with other stroke and head injury victims. I was so impressed with his tenacity, I sent him a quick e-mail to thank him for the best race of my life. If I hadn't seen him, I can't say things would have gone the same way.
There is hope. 2014 is going to be a good year.
