It was the best experience of my life so far.
To sum up the days before the race: I went to a formal date party Friday night, Saturday night I had another party and stayed up until 1:15 acting as the designated driver because, hello, I had a race the next day, so no drinks for Macy! We were supposed to be out of the house at 5 am the next morning (4 of us carpooled and it was pitch black outside). Downtown OKC was packed with cars and parking took much longer than I had hoped. Crowds of people were walking towards the sight of the OKC Memorial Bombing and I was feeling a little anxious because I hate crowds—they stress me out. But when the gun went off to signal our race, I had this amazing energy flow through me, despite only getting 3 hours of sleep.
My training for 13 miles was half-ass at best. Spring Break broke my motivation to train. So I was nervous to run that much in one day. My friend Hannah Grace (further referenced as HG) ran with me because she experienced the same training woes.
All I could think about before that gun went off was that the farthest I've ever run in my life has been 6 miles. That's a little less than half of what I was supposed to be running with a crowd of people. How was I going to run 13? I've never done that before. Do I even have the mental strength to run that?
The first 2 miles of the race felt like all the other races I've done (which have only been 5k races, 3.1 miles). My mind was resistant to the feeling of running. It seemed like I was more focused on finishing than I was enjoying the race. I hit the 3 mile marker and I thought to myself I'm done. I can't do this, Just call a cab and I'll wait at the finish line.
I think HG saw me struggling in my head and she said, "Let's walk for a little bit." Wow was I happy. We walked for half a mile then picked up a run again.
That's when the signs appeared.
People sitting and standing on the sides of the road held up signs of encouragement for their family members or friends. Things like: "You Got This Joe!" or "We Love You Mom." These were the generic signs. But most of the signs weren't only encouraging their loved ones, they encouraged every single person running. Those signs were countless and said: "Run Like Forest" or "You're Lapping Everyone on the Couch, Including Me" and "Just Keep Running" with a picture of Dory from Finding Nemo. There was "Run Like There's a Hot Guy In Front of You and A Creepy Guy Behind You" or "Toenails Are For Sissy's" and so so many more! That's when I started to feel really emotional and appreciated for these people. Who woke up at an un-Godly hour to cheer on their loved ones, but also to cheer on people they'd never even seen before.
My thoughts of struggle turned into thoughts of how great humanity can be. How awesome all these people are. And even how awesome I was—not in the conceited way, but my body was awesome because it could run, it could breathe, I could run 13 miles.
I started dancing to the music that was playing in my ears, I was smiling while running (which I never thought ANYONE could do) because I realized that I was alive, I was running, it was perfect running weather, and I was doing great things while almost all of my friends were asleep. I was so happy and excited.
My mood only increased as the miles did. As we ran through neighborhoods maybe around mile 6 or 7, I witnessed families out on their front lawns clapping us on; standing by tables with fresh fruit, cookies, and cupcakes; or holding their own encouraging and hilarious signs. (I hit a poster that had the level up turtle thing from the Mario Brothers' Gaming Series and I did in fact feel powered up after that.)
Mile 10 was when I was coming closer to my limit. My legs were starting to cramp up, we were taking longer walking breaks, my feet were starting to yell at me, my body was reaching its limit, as much as my mind was bouncing around clapping. But then, the first marathoner was approaching our "group" on the other side of the street. He was alone and he was music-less. He was in the zone. And every single person on the half marathon side started cheering for him. We were clapping and I thanked God that I didn't have to run 26.2 miles instead of 13.1. Then I found the will to finish the race to the best of my ability.
I realized so many things in the span of less than 3 hours.
- People are incredible. Yes there are some horrible ones out there who do horrible things, but the majority of people are good and kind. They encourage strangers. They man fruit tables or "booze stops" for strange people running when they could be having a nice brunch with their family or still sleeping.
- The body is amazing. You can do so much and the only thing holding you back is you. Once you silence the negative parts of your mind, you can do anything.
- Complete strangers care about you. Maybe not the way that you care about friends or family, but they still care.
- Races can make you happy.
- Life is amazing and life is short so why would you not be happy?
- Running is fun only sometimes
Here are some pictures from my race. In case your curious.
I'm not going to tell you to run a race and feel happy like I did, because not everyone enjoys the same thing. But go out and find something you love and that makes you realize life is amazing. Do something that makes you happy and that restores your faith in humanity. Because life truly is amazing and people are too.
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