DID IT!! Twelve 5Ks in 2012

"I am going to do Twelve 5ks in 2012" OK I admit it my co-worker and dear friend kind of looked at me as if I really needed to be medicated. I had made this announcement at the end of 2011. Funny I can't remember if it was before or after my bariatric surgery. I emailed my husband and told him the plan, the response. OK. I know what was going through his mind. "Yeah right. Another of her great "ideas" but like so many others she won’t follow through".

On January 1, 2012 just three weeks after my bariatric surgery I participated in the first 5K. In addition to my husband four friends were also participated to support me. Motivational is an understatement. I mean to realize that you have set this goal for yourself and others are there too. Well it was great gesture and I wish they had completed all the 5Ks with me. But life takes us down unexpected paths. Along the way I lost motivation, but I found it again.

Don't get me wrong. I will always remember those awesome people for being there when my journey began, and a few ran additional 5Ks with me. I really do understand that things change. But what is amazing, my husband participated in everyone with me. A few I knew he didn’t want to, but he kept saying “I will not be the reason you didn't reach your goal."

Your goal...he never said Our Goal. It made it all about me. What you need to understand the significant of this. In the twenty years of marriage, this may have been one of the hardest for him, but he was always by my side for the 5Ks. No matter how angry he was at me or vice a versa. He always said he supported me with things over the years, but it was the little things that tore down that support. He is not a saint, nor am I by any means, But in 2012 he showed his support for his wife on her insanity quest of completing twelve 5Ks over the year. Not sure there are many men that would do that for their wives.
Now that my husband has been placed on the pedestal, I need to reflect on the other people. The runners and walkers we encountered over the past year.

To say I was intimidated by the 5K athletes is an understatement, it was unneeded. What an amazing array of people. Yes there were the fit competitive runners but there were more of the middle of the road athletes. They were amazingly supportive and positive. The whole year I can only remember one negative incident and it was not aimed at me.

The incident happened during one of the 5Ks in the Fall (when I regained my motivation). A family was running, the “father” was goading his son as we came up a hill. “Come on keep running don’t you dare stop. Are you a quitter, not my son? Don’t you dare quit, all the fat people will out run of you. You should be ashamed of yourself”.  Wow really? The boy was maybe eleven years old. You could see the agony on his face and the blood running down his knee from a fall. You could also see the mother and younger sister’s painful expression of embarrassment. The mother took her son to the side and dabbed her son’s bloody knee with her shirt.  We didn’t hear the rest, but the father soon passed us in a gust of furry. A few minutes later the boy, his sister and mother passed us. He could be proud that at least this fat person didn’t pass him.  As I stated, this was the only negative incident we encountered. OK other than the 10 people who cheated in one race when they didn’t do a final mile loop.

It was amazing to see how supportive people were and how others accomplishing goals alongside us. Such as the woman who ran her first 5K on New Year’s Eve. She ran the whole thing, didn’t walk once and her sister was alongside her the whole way cheering her on. No matter the race you would hear jovial comments and encouragement.  “Almost done” “You’re doing great”  “Keep going” . Perfect strangers becoming your personal cheerleaders, not something you would expect.  It was a key reminder that you were not doing it alone.
Of the twelve…ok thirteen races; there were a handful we would not d again if we had a choice. The ones we will do again: The Color Run (so much fun), the Breast Cancer fundraisers (great cause that is very personal for us) and the theme races like the Jingle Bell run.
Before each race I would tell my husband “We are only going to walk this”. Never walked a full 5K, we always ran at the beginning and finished running, depending on the race we ran/walked at various points in between. It’s a bit frustrating that I didn’t run a full 5K yet. If I had not lost my motivation for 6 months I think it would have been easily accomplished. But the goal I set out was to participate in twelve 5Ks and I did that as well as an extra tacked on at the end. I am pretty sure more are in the future and this time next year I should be writing about finally running a whole 5K (or more).

I know this, I didn’t do it alone. Not only was my husband by my side during each race. But there was tremendous support from my fellow racers. I cannot forget the wonderful friends that have blessed my life. I would have faltered again and again. But knowing so many people we supporting me and sending words of encouragement it was the little push I needed to keep going. At some points the encouragements were not just a push, they dragged me to the races. In an odd way it kept me accountable.  I thank you all.

And with parting words let’s not forget: I SURVIVED TWELVE 5KS IN 2O12!!

“Encouragement from any source is like a drop of rain upon a parched desert. Thanks to all the many others who rained on me when I needed it, and even when I foolishly thought I didn't. (Acknowledgements in The P.U.R.E.)” ― Claire Gillian