♥ Disney Princess Half Marathon ♥

Holy Cow! There is so much to talk about!!!! Over the last couple months this blog has focused so much on the medical side of its name, “Remicade”, but today we are going to talk about the “Running” aspect of why I started the blog!!!!

Running is something that I fell in love with the summer before going to college. I owe the addiction to my dear friend Rachel.  Rachel pushed me to start, and encouraged me in those early weeks when I didn’t think I could run the block let alone a mile.  I never thought of myself as a Runner per say, but I looked at Rachel, a mother of three children, a wife and a house to run and thought, “well if she can do it, I would love to try”! So I did.  By the end of the summer I was hooked. The best thing about running is that you don’t need any special equipment all you need is a good pair of shoes and off you go! It is also one of those things that leave you NO excuse to not work out.  You can always run; rain or shine, snow or sleet, it is always do-able!!

Running has been a huge stress reliever for me.  It allows me to clear my head, and spend time talking with the Lord.  I love that time.  This weekend was the first big race I have run since February 2009.  It has been two years, almost to the date, that my body and ulcerative colitis went into a downward spiral. So this race was special.  It was special for so many reasons.  One, because as I started running I thought back 2 years, all the feelings and fears came to mind. I thought of a year and half ago listening to Doctor Finke tell me that if I kept running like I was, while my body hurting so badly that I could have a stroke. I remember being so scared when she told me that. Now a year and a half into Remicade treatments I ran my first half on Remicade.  I felt so much joy throughout the whole race. I was so thankful, and thrilled that while Remicade has been so hard on my body. Remicade treatments made this half marathon a reality in my life. Thank you Lord for Remicade J

Number Two reason, because I was able to run this with one of my closest friends Jenny. While I have had a rough two years medically, she has had her share of “life’s valleys” as well.  The day before the race she came into my room and we talked about the last two years, all the things that the Lord had done and seen us through.  I am so amazed looking back and seeing how far we’ve both come.  I couldn’t have imagined running this race with anyone else.  I was so proud of her!!! 

My third reason, well it didn’t really hit home until about 20 minutes before my corral started.  You see I signed up for this race back in September long before Lymphoma ever became something on my radar.  However that is what we were running for.  We ran for Leukemia, and Lymphoma.  I told Jenny the day before, this race meant something special to me and as we sat there waiting to start the race, I saw women around me with shirts that said, “Running for Mary” and it all felt surreal.  I started to get choked up because even though I didn’t have “Running for Mary” on the back of my shirt, the race was no longer about me, it was about Lymphoma.  It was about Mary, and anyone else that has ever been scared, affected, tested, or treated, you name it.  If Lymphoma has ever been on your radar I ran for you.  People asked if it hurt, and I would have to answer with a confident YES.  Of course it hurt, the last 2 miles was not comfortable at all, but I couldn’t focus on it, not for one second.  Jenny and I recited to one another before the race started two of our favorite verses, “For God did not give me a spirit of fear, but of LOVE, POWER and SOUND MIND”, and “I can do ALL things, through Christ who strengthens me”.  Every time I wanted to stop, or focus on my pain I said those verses back in my head.  There is no way I could have gotten through Sundays race without the Lord running every step of it with me.  Two months ago I wasn’t sure I was going be able to run this race at all, let alone finish it.  So getting through this race I most definitely consider a huge achievement.

The fan support was amazing.  There were so many runners and so many people there to cheer us on.  Jenny and I had “special spectators” in the crowd, our “Prince Charmings” were there to cheer for us and lift us up, a friend of mine named Byrd was there, and a wonderful surprise, the Beckett/Thom clan joined the crowds to show their support!!!  If you know anyone running a race, go out and support them because let me tell you, it meant the world to see our friends along the way.  Mrs. Beckett has a super loud horn and they were cheering so loud.  We saw them around mile eight and it truly gave us the biggest boost ever!!

So where are we today!  Well… I am feeling pretty good. VERY SORE!! Shocker I am sure, hahah J and I am very tired.  No complaints though J  We are headed into week five which is usually a pretty rough week for me, so I am praying that we make it to next Fridays treatment without any glitches!  Thank you all for the social networking support!  I am so thankful for your prayers, and your encouragement!! I am going to take it easy the next couple days in hopes that my body recovers quickly. I have been experiencing the “runners high” for about 48 hours now, and it feels so good!!  I am so excited to do another race hopefully sooner rather than later!!  Have an awesome week J

Ps. I will have pictures to follow, I accidently left my camera in Florida, so they shipped it up here, and I am hoping to have it by tomorrow! So I will have them up for you ASAP!!!!