Here goes nothin’

So, they say when you put it out there, you’re held accountable.

I realize I typically don’t post all that Mama and Daddy are up to (i.e. social events, moms-only weekends, nights-out sans girls team-we do have a life outside of you two girls, I just don’t share it on your blog-I’m sure you’ll be scouring my Facebook page in the near future anyway and will see for yourself.)  I do, however, post those big ticket items like Dad becoming mayor, Mommy’s cancer, etc. in hopes that you will learn and grow from our experiences.  There are also those few little events I like to post for posterity, just because.  One day, I’d like to think that my girls just might be interested in what their parents did, outside of child rearing, of course.

This isn’t really a big ticket item for some, but for me, it’s huge.

I plan will run a half-marathon in October.

There, I said it.  Now, I have to do it.

Remember back in June, I ran a 5K with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Lee?  Prior to that, on January 13th, 2012 I decided to use a Couch-to-5K program to get chemo drugs out of my body and get myself back into shape.  I finished my last treatment on December 28, I had a lumpectomy in January, radiation in February and March and started the Couch to 5K in April.  I was able to run the entire June 2012 Hartsville Lickety Split 5K, without stopping.  I finished in 31 minutes, but I did it.  I had a huge smile crossing the finish line and tears running down my face.

Lee had never run a 5K, and only did it after I guilted her into it I think!  (I pulled the cancer card on that one.)  I’m so glad I did, because now, she’s a running feen.  She’s now convincing me that I can actually run a half-marathon with her.  (Rather, she’s crazy enough to think that we can pull this off.)

We are both on week 8  of a 13 week half-marathon training program.  The cool thing about that is that it’s a “13.1 for PINK” app, with a portion of the cost donated to breast cancer research. (Don’t you love iPhones?)  It’s a run/walk interval running program.  We are both at the stage where we are consistently running 4:1s (that’s interval talk for run four minutes and walk one).  Yesterday, I ran 6 miles.

Yeah, that’s crazy to say too.  I could have never imagined myself being able to do that a few years ago.

Tomorrow is a long run for me and I hope to run 10 miles.

And that’s even more insane to think about.  I think once I run the 10 miler, I’ll finally register for the half marathon.  Or pass out, which ever comes first.  I’m still a bit skeptical, and Lee has to constantly remind me of how far we’ve come, but deep inside, I know I can do it.

Know how?

As I run, I listen to the constant in and out of my deep breaths.  I think about how my baby girl has struggled for 5 years, simply to breathe.  She’s laughed, danced, and played hard for as long as she has been alive, and never once complained.  Her cardiologist once told me to hold my breath and run around my house.  That’s what it has been like for her for five years.   So, as I run, I think of how easy it is for me and how hard it has been for her.  I should never complain.

If she can do it, I can do it.

So there. It’s out there.  I will run that half-marathon if it kills me.

It’s the least I can do.

Besides, what’s a little half-marathon when you’ve already taken down cancer?  (wink)

 

 

 

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