The Montgomery Half

I ran in a 1/2 marathon here in town on Saturday. I love races. It's that time where I get to be surrounded with crazy people like me. It's an opportunity to run side by side with people who "get" my passion. Don't get me wrong, I am blessed with many people in life who support me in my passion for running. But there's NOTHING like being surrounded by people who all have their own stories, but you are here for one common goal....FINISH. I'm sure some racers would argue with me, saying that they want to win. And as much as it would be nice to place in a race like this (maybe one day) it's enough for me to finish.

Thankfully God had more in mind for me on Saturday than just finishing. I was in the starting line talking with this guy. We discussed where we were from, whether this was our first race and what time we wanted to run the race in...all the things you(or at least I do) talk about with runners while in the starting line. We both wanted to run the race in about 2 hours, but made no plans to run together.

We started out running together and ended up meeting up with this guy's friends. It seems like on the hills we would get ahead of them, but then they would catch up. Around mile 5 I found out that the guy's name is Will. Funny thing is, my running partner and cousin's name is Will...so that was cool. I remembered that new Will told me he had a broken toe, which was even cooler because I talked with cousin Will a couple of days before who also had a broken toe....coincidence? I think not.

So back to mile 5. At this point I think the four of us were all staying together. I had nicknamed the other two guys ketchup and mustard because they were wearing a yellow and red shirt, but found out their names were Cody and Tom. We all stayed together up until about mile 9 where Tom and I slowed down a bit. The last 3 or 4 miles was pretty difficult, but hearing Tom's footsteps next to me helped me keep my pace. I told him to not let me hold him back, but he said that hearing my breathing helped him. I was really out of breath after a huge hill at the end.

I remember at mile 13 Tom said we have 30 seconds to get in under 2 hours and encouraged me to run faster. I told him I couldn't make it that fast and he said yes you can and we were off. I really felt like I might loose a lung there in that 2 tenths of a miles, but we finished together and it was AMAZING. It was worth every step.

This post is dedicated to Will, Tom and Cody (my gaurdian angels)