The Accomplishment of My Life

       In life, there are always obstacles to push through, hurdles to jump over, and challenges that we don't think we can overcome, yet somehow manage. Running a marathon has proven to be one such challenge. From a very young age, I have loved to run. Many would say that I am crazy and that running is boring, exhausting, horrible, and the last thing they would be caught doing. For me, running is exhilarating, relaxing, a stress reliever, and one of my favorite times to talk to God. I love to escape life for a moment and go for a beautiful 6 mile run along the river trail. Running calms my soul and allows me to clear my body and mind of every day life and stress.
        One of my lifelong dreams and goals has been to run a marathon. I absolutely love running, so I have always thought, what better idea than to train and run 26.2 miles. Doesn't that sound thrilling and exciting? Little did I know, training for a marathon turned out not to be an easy task. I began training in July for this marathon. Soon after my official training began, I hurt my back and was unable to run for about three weeks. I was very frustrated because once I set my mind to something, I am going to finish it. I didn't want to give up so quickly. Barely able to walk, I was determined that my back would heal quickly and I would be back on track. I signed up for the Women's Nike half marathon in San Francisco. After a few weeks I was back on track with my training.
       After the half marathon, I kicked my training into high gear. I ran 6 miles about four times per week and ran a long run the weekends. I started my long runs at 10 miles and increased every weekend until I made it to 21 miles. About a week after the longest run, my knee started to hurt excruciatingly. I was not sure if I would be able to continue. I refused to give up! I was advised to stop running for at least a month, but I didn't have a month. Is three days enough? I stopped running for about three days and then was back in the swing of things...pushing through the pain. Whether this was due to my knee injury or something else, about three weeks before the race I hurt my left foot pretty bad (my right knee is the one that was injured). I thought I had a stress fracture in it. I am still not convinced that I don't, but I was determined not to give up. I was going to finish this marathon no matter what! I have been through so much these last few years that I felt as though this marathon was monumental in my life. There was something significant in me crossing the finish line in. I felt as though the finish line to the marathon was the culmination of hard work, perseverence and breakthrough. I have no way to describe the need I had to continue to train and finish this marathon, but I knew that quitting was not an option.
       Over the next few weeks, I took it "easy" on my body. I limited my running to about 3 or 4 times per week, and I significantly reduced the number of miles I was running per week. My foot started to feel better. I was able to walk on it pretty normally by race day. My knee felt nearly perfect, and I was pumped for the race!

                                                            RACE DAY!!!!

       The morning of my race, I was exhilarated! I felt ready, healthy, anxious (in a positive way), and excited to cross the finish line of my very first marathon. I was so thankful that I had a partner to run with...one that I had trained for hours and hours with. We both had injuries, but were both determined to do our very best and cross the finish line. Daniel was an amazing running partner and I greatly enjoyed training with him. He was encouraging, gracious (although I was not always gracious...he would always walk with me if I was having a rough time or in a lot of pain, but I did not always do the same for him! I am so sorry Daniel...so mean of me to leave you behind when you were hurting!!!), and fun to run with. We had a lot of great runs together, and a few not-so-great runs together.
      The drive on the bus to Shasta Dam was beautiful. The weather could not have been more perfect. The temperature was in the 50s the entire run. The race started promptly at 8am. We were off. The first 2.5 miles out of 3.5 miles was downhill. This was a perfect way to start a race. We were running at a great pace, feeling amazing. I was on my game that day. I felt amazing and was not in pain. Around mile five, I realized that I somehow lost Daniel and I could no longer see him. I knew I had two options: slow down and wait for him, or continue on and see him at the end of the race. Yep. You guessed it. I continued on and decided I would see him at the end of the race. I felt really bad, but I wanted to do my very best and I just made the decision to continue on at my current pace. Around mile 11, I was still feeling pretty good. My knee and my foot were both pretty sore, but I knew that I was going to finish the race and accomplish what I had worked so hard toward. Shortly after I hit mile 11, I came to the 4 miles of hills (up and downhill). When I made it to the top of the first hill, I realized that my knee and foot were starting to hurt pretty bad. I had to finish the race, so I made a decision right then that I would walk up all of the hills. I had ran the first 11 miles pretty quickly, so I had plenty of wiggle room in my time to walk up the hills. At the end of the last hill, I was at mile 15. I was hurting pretty bad at this point. The thought of still having to make it through 11 more miles was slightly daunting. I just kept telling myself, this is what I worked so hard for. Don't give up. You aren't dying. You can can do it! Once I hit the river trail, I was in so much pain that I decided to walk for a bit. The next 2 miles were a mixture of walking, running, and crying. When I was 0.5 miles from the diestelhorst bridge, I knew that I had to start running again because my family and friends were awaiting me there with cameras and cheering. I had to look strong (not like I was just going to finish the race crying and walking). I mustered up every bit of energy and willpower I could find and began running again. When I saw my dad and Daniel's dad I perked up a bit. I passed them and was refreshed once again when I saw family and friends cheering me on.
       I was able to continue running for about a mile past that point before I was forced to walk again. At this point, I had about 9 miles left to go. I ran as much as physically possible (oftentimes while crying and praying that I could make it), and then I walked when I simply couldn't handle the pain any longer. When I reached mile 22, I was walking for a bit. This group of 3 runners ran past me and then all three of them stopped and turned around. The older gentleman started immediately encouraging me and said, "This is what you have trained for. You have not come all this way to be walking at this point. You are running with us. We are running 10. 15 miles, so you can definitely keep up pace."
       I began running with them, despite the pain. It just felt good to have people to run with and they were all so nice. For a while, I didn't say much. They kept talking and I just tried to keep up with them. Then, I started walking because I didn't think that I could handle running. I really thought that my only option was to finish the last four miles walking. The man immediately told me that I was not allowed to walk. I started crying and he said that I could cry all I wanted, make noises, and do whatever I needed to do to push through, but I was NOT walking. I had come too far. We only had about three miles left at this point, but I was not feeling like I could make it. He was the sweetest guy. He said that I was his project and that he refused to leave me behind. He was constantly encouraging me...saying things like "you are amazing Rachel! You are doing it. Look at you! You are finishing this race! You are accomplishing something so great! You will finish." For the last four miles of my run, it was constant encouragement and positive comments. He literally would not let me stop and walk.  At one point, I started thinking, are these three angels? Does anyone else see them? No one is really THAT nice and encouraging, are they? Where did these people come from? Am I going to cross the finish line and no one else but me sees that they are there? It felt like a surreal moment. When we were about .75 miles from the finish line, the family of these 3 runners started shouting out, "Good job Rachel! You are amazing! You are almost there. You've got this. Keep going...you are doing great!" The two younger runners had gone ahead of us a bit (because I had tried to walk again and was encouraged/forced to start running again). They told their family to cheer for me. I couldn't believe it! They weren't even cheering for the amazing man I was running with...just me! Who does that? These people were unbelievably kind!
       That last mile was the hardest mile I have ever run. Despite the fact that it was only one mile, I literally did not think I could make it. If my angel runner had not been right there with me, I do not know that I would have had the strength to finish. He ran with me all the way to the finish line. We reached the Sundial Bridge. All I had left was to run across the bridge and I was done. I found every ounce of energy I could muster and ran across the bridge. I was still getting "You got this. We are there. This is it. You have survived!" in my ear to encourage me to continue running across the bridge. When we made it to the finish line, my angel running buddy said, "Ladies first" and had me cross the finish line before him. I did it! I accomplished one of the most difficult things of my life. I never imagined the run to be this difficult. I was amazed, thrilled, exhausted, astonished, nauseous, thankful, relieved, and beaming because I CROSSED THAT FINISH LINE! I accomplished a lifelong goal, and it felt amazing. I had so much support at the finish line: family and friends. I felt incredibly loved by my family of angel running buddies and all those who came to watch me cross that finish line. I have never been so proud to accomplish something in my life. I did it!
       After about 35 minutes, I was able to cheer loudly for Daniel and meet him at the finish line. He finished too! I am so proud of his accomplishments. He was in a tremendous amount of pain due to his ankle and didn't think he was going to be able to finish, but he persevered and finished strong! We both survived and have an amazing story to tell! Thank you Daniel for being so amazing and training with me. I enjoyed every moment and am so excited that we both ran a MARATHON! So huge!

       Will I ever do it again??? You bet! I LOVE to run, and I plan on running many more marathons in my future. I just pray that the next one will be done with no injuries!