I ran my very first half marathon in February of 2002.
I don't recall my time, but I do reacll that it was a challenging and difficult race. My hips were killing me, my knees were hurting and I wanted to stop and walk by the time I made it to mile 7.
I ran that race with two girlfriends of mine; Stacy and Christy. Girlfriends who, at the time, I thought were lifelong friends. They ran the entire course with me, cheering and encouraging me along the way. I could not have finished that race if they had not been running with me...we finished together.
Five years later, neither of them are a part of my life. We did not have a falling out, but each of them moved from Austin and are enjoying the direction that their lives are taking them; one in Miami Beach, FL the other in Tyler, TX.
I decided to run my second half marathon in the Fall of 2005, as part of my training for a full marathon (26.2 miles). Before my training was over, I would run a handful of races this distance and training runs much longer than 13.1 miles.
My fastest recorded time for the half was 2:15, ran in January 2006.
On February 18, 2007 I set out to break that record...by myself. I woke up early a lot of mornings, was the first to leave the office on Tuesday evenings, and used my weekends to put in
long runs. My goal: a Personal Record (PR). My Half Marathon Goal Pace (HMGP): 2:09.
I raced the AT&T Austin Half Marathon. It was a new, and much more difficult, course.
I was not running with anyone this year. No one had trained with me. No one was pacing with me. I was doing this one all on my own. It was scary at first, but then...it was empowering.
I would do it!
Just as I had settled into and had become very comfortable with this realization, I saw Gareth along the course. He was waiting for me a quarter of a mile before the biggest hill that I would conquer. The biggest hill right at the 12 mile mark?!
I saw him. I smiled and waved. I kept running.
Then all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I caught him again. He had jumped on his bike and was riding beside me...up the hill. He didn't say much. He may not have said anything at all, but he rode with me; pulling me up that hill. He slowed down when I slowed down and he picked up when I picked up.
I had been upset with him the night before for not understanding my running. Maybe, though, he understood better than I thought?
I finished the race: 2:09:07...a PR!
Goal accomplished and I did it on my own, just as I set out to do!
When I look back on this race, chances are I won't remember my time (again). I hope that what I do remember is that in a seemingly small, but very important way...Gareth helped
me be
my best!
