April 2009

Running for the kids at the Country Music Marathon

I have never really been a “real” runner.  I mean I ran in high school (the 400 or 1/4 mile, a long sprint) and spring forward 20 years, I have been running for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer awareness and the search for a cure (a 5K run which is about 3 miles and everything I can do to get to the finish line every year) but I never REALLY thought I would run long distance…. until Darbi.  My teammate and partner in crime (not really, just a figure of speech, work with me here people) Darbi Bolton convinced me in December to join Team Rio (the team that Marty Roe and Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio formed) and run for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee.  When I said yes I really had no idea what I was up against.  13.1 miles.  What in the world was I thinking???  The first cold Saturday morning we ran early in January was an “easy” 2 miler. Gahhhhhhh! I barely made it.  The next week was 2.5 miles.  Gasp! Choke! Gasp! I need a respirator! …But somehow I made it.  The next week was 3 miles, again, not sure how, but I did it. This went on for months and was going great until a brisk cool morning in early March for a 6 mile run in the gorgeous but all hills Percy Warner Park that starts at the dead end of Belle Meade Boulevard (unbelievable scenery, trust me, just go there and take a walk sometime).  I was about 4 miles into it when I felt something weird in my knee.  Keep in mind my knees aren’t the best and always bothered me when I ran anyway but this felt a little different.  I made it to the end and was sore but walking.  We were to do a 5 mile run the next day and my buddy Darbi and I decided to keep it flat and ran the Maryland Farms area in Brentwood.  She had been experiencing some discomfort in her hip and was really feeling the knee and by the time we finished, both of us were down.  I had chipped some cartilage in my knee from the arthritis and developed a bursa and she had a stres fracture in her hip.  To come that far only to find out that we possibly wouldn’t be able to complete the race was crushing.  She was in physical therapy and I was on rest.  I rested for two weeks and ice was my best friend when I started feeling like Super Woman so I threw on a knee brace and off I went on a grueling 8 miler in the pouring rain in 38 degree weather. Not the best choice in hindsight.  I finished but it set me back another 3 weeks and a trip to the Sports Med Ortho for a check-up resulted in a nasty and painful cortisone shot.  Those extra 3 weeks I was off was mentally torturous.  Everyone was passing me up, would I be able to catch up?  The first trial was the dreaded hill training of Percy Warner. It was 7.5 miles of pure determination… and I did it!!!  And guess what? The next week I was back with the team…. at Percy Warner AGAIN!  This time it was 12.47 miles of exhilaration! I breezed through it!  I could have gone another few miles with no problems!  This was two weeks ago.  The next week, Darbi got the okay from her doc t get back on the trail, and boy did she!  With over a month and a half completely off running she bounced back with our 6 miler at the Stone Hollow Dam in Hermitage.  Another great run that meanders along the river and she did it with force!

Well, it’s now ONE WHOLE DAYuntil the race. That’s right, the race is tomorrow morning and it’s consumed my nearly every thought (That’s right, Holly White has hardly thought about real estate AT ALL today!).  I could barely sleep last night and have had to stop writing this twelve times so that I could bounce around because the thought of that finish line is making my heart want to come right out of my chest.

And the best news is both Darbi and I met our goals for fund-raising for Big Brothers Big Sisters so every step will be for them tomorrow…okay that’s a lie, some of them will be for me too.

UPDATE:

I should have updated this sooner, but well, I digressed for a month (selling real estate is busy business!).

I FINISHED!!  That’s right I made it to the finish line and it was one of the biggest personal challenges on my life.  I got tripped about 1 minute after this photo was taken (about 9 miles into it) and twisted my ankle and then the pain in the knees kicked in.  Those little boogers blew up like balloons!  Those last 4 miles were the toughest I have ever run.

I was going to keep on running and do another couple half’s this year but I think I am going to preserve my knees for the kids again next year.  I don’t want to chance not being able to do it.  Swimming is sounding like a pretty good alternate sport right now…