Nothing Worthwhile Is Ever Easy... But with a friend it's Possible!



Nothing Worthwhile is Ever Easy ~ Mike's high school cross country coach said those words all the time. I started dating Mike when I was a junior in high school and he was a senior. I also started dating Mike during cross country season. I knew nothing about cross country. Nothing.  But I learned...and fast.  One thing I learned fast from other runners' girlfriends was to avoid the coach. He didn't believe in runners having girlfriends, they said. Apparently his theory was that his runners had all of their lives to date, but only a moment in time to be a good runner. In retrospect, I'm not sure how it happened that Mike and I ever began dating, because at that time he lived and died according to everything Coach said.  Somehow we did though, and the gain was all mine. Not only did I have a nice boyfriend with a sweet Letterman's jacket, I gained a true friend (Anne) who was also dating a runner at the time. When she and Mike both graduated that spring, I cried more over her leaving me than I did over him ~ (at that time I figured boyfriends could come and go, but surviving a year in high school without my truest friend there with me seemed unbearable!)  Anne and I cheered at meets together...first cross country meets, where she boldly said to Coach, "Coach, you be nice to her(me), she's scared of you!", and later track meets.  We enjoyed the sidelines together, cheering and laughing, and building a friendship. We made good luck signs and went to Dairy Queen and had sleep overs and shared perfume. And even then I realized that what made our friendship so precious to me is that it was easy. I didn't have to pretend to be someone I wasn't, or compromise my values, or compete for Anne's friendship. We just clicked...we were kindred spirits, as the movie says, and I loved her. Still, I watched Mike work as hard as he could to be a scholar athlete, and I saw what Coach meant when he said, "Nothing Worthwhile is Ever Easy."  And I believed that it was true...most of the time.

     Fast forward 17 years...I'm married to that scholar athlete ( I have been for 12 years!), and believe it or not, Coach's two sweet girls were the flower girls in our wedding. Coach is my principal at the school where I teach!  Anne is still one of my truest and dearest friends... by a miracle we even live in the same town! And more and more Coach's mantra that Nothing Worthwhile is Ever Easy  proves itself to be true.
     And now to the point of the post (and yes, I am very aware that it took FOREVER to get to the point...)


About a week and a half ago I achieved something I didn't believe was possible.  It was worthwhile. It WASN'T easy.  But with my friend it happened.  I RAN! And not just a little bit! I finished a half-marathon. And I ran the entire thing. I never stopped...not once..... 13.1 MILES, PEOPLE!!!! I finished in 2 hours, 18 minutes, and 20 seconds. And yes, that means I actually ran for 2 HOURS 18 MINUTES and 20 SECONDS!!!  I still can hardly believe it.  I realize that many have done this, have run this inconceivable distance, and even run it much, much faster than I did. But we're talking about me in this post, and until Saturday, May 7, 2011, I had not. And I did not actually believe I ever could.
 But Anne did.


As mentioned in the previous post, Anne called me up one November evening and asked if I would consider doing the mini with her. Eventually I agreed...partly because I had been sedentary for WAY too long, but mostly because I was amazed, (and secretly flattered) that she believed I could do it, and that she wanted me to do it with her. I told her I would only do it if she would commit to train and run together at least 1-2 times a week. Otherwise I knew that I would eventually give up.  So that's how it started.  In November I couldn't even run for 10 minutes without feeling as if my lungs were collapsing, and unfortunately, that meant I could barely run a mile.  I was again incredibly doubtful that running the entire 13.1 miles could be a reality for me in May.  Anne wasn't. 

Quite honestly, I never actually enjoyed the training.  Running is not fun...inevitably your breathing gets labored and your legs hurt.  The reality that you are not oh, so young hits you often like a 2 x 4. First, my ankles hurt.  Then, it was my knees. It was COLD outside. In February we ran a "Think Spring" 5k ~ those 3.1 miles felt like 13.1! The realization that a 5k is not even  quite a quarter of a half-marathon is not a pleasant one. The realization that we actually paid money to torture ourselves, plus money for a hotel room was also discouraging.  What was I thinking???  Through all this Anne was encouraging.  She kept telling me I was doing alright, that I was even ahead of where she was at the same point in training last year. At the same time she pushed me further than I would have ever gone alone...earning herself the loving term "Hitler".  Later in training when we went for a long run and my knees were killing me, she went ahead and then came back for me.  She never made me feel bad about slowing her down. 

While I never really enjoyed the running, I did enjoy achieving longer distances and times without walking.  Before this, 2 miles was the longest distance I had ever consecutively run, and I'd never planned to try to go further.  The other plus? Spending time with my friend.  Life as a teacher, mother, wife, daughter, & sister is full.  I'm always WAY behind on my "to do" list.  Often, there just isn't time in the day for a nice long chat on the phone, or coming over for tea... but because we needed to get the run in, we got to spend time chatting as well ~ at least until the point in the run when we could no longer breathe!  I am so thankful for the opportunity we had to renew our friendship and to spend time sharing about our lives, our children, our God, and everything else in between.  In high school our friendship was worthwhile AND easy.  As 30 somethings, our friendship is just as worthwhile, but sometimes not quite as easy to find the time for.  I think if anything, this is what would motivate me to put myself through such a journey again.  I'm proud of this accomplishment ~ absolutely!  I can say I've done it, and in some ways, that's enough. No need to repeat it.   There are definitely a zillion things calling for my time and attention these days.  I am certainly NOT wondering what I could be doing with the hour or two previously spent on the workout and recovering.  But, less than 2 weeks following the big event, I find myself missing the time spent doing something good and healthy for my body while simultaneously doing something good and healthy for my spirit.  Hopefully the time spent together was good for her spirit, too.  I'm hopeful we'll be training together again soon, as long as it's not for a triathlon! 



Me, Maria, & Anne before the race...don't we look happy and energetic?



Still waiting for the start...




There were SO many people there...over 30,000!

 


The corrals begin at A (where the FAST people are (like Grant's kindergarten teacher...no joke!) ) We were in O.



Only finishers get these totally awesome medals:)



Mike was a fabulous support system throughout this entire journey. He never complained about the time I took to go run, he watched kids (ours and the Lowes') when we needed him to so we could run, and he stayed at the start the entire time until we began running. I couldn't have done this without him!

Knowing you have a friend that believes in you, even when you don't, and accomplishing something you thought impossible - because she believed you could, is very worthwhile.