Richmond Marathon

So this marathon wasn't for me at all....even though it was claimed as the national diabetes day. This day was all my wife's. She had been training long and hard to accomplish her first marathon. I cant really say that I helps her much....other than the occasional example. It was all her....to complete her first marathon on behalf of a friend of ours who was going to cancer treatment. That is her story to tell so I won't ruin it. I'll let her tell you.

I'll,just add some pictures of the event and her pursuit of something that a very small percentage will ever accomplish. She had an amazing team from TEAM IN TRAINING to encourage her along the way.

I have always had an interest and a passion for health and nutrition. I wanted to be strong and healthy and not like my mother. In college,  aerobics was the craze, but as real life went on getting to a gym was not that simple. When we moved to VB in 1995  I had a friend from church  that I walked with in the evenings. That was great as long as it lasted. In 2002 I was introduced to running. I didn't really think I could run. I had never been particularly athletic and I had allergies that made me think it would be hard to breathe. However, I began 1 street at a time, run to the next street, walk to the next until I could complete an entire lap around the neighborhood, (.7 mile). And so it began. I ran my first 5K in November of 2002. From then on, it was an on again, off again affair. I would do well for awhile, then I would slack, gain weight, and repeat the cycle. I decided I really wanted to do a long race, maybe even a marathon someday. My first ½ marathon was in 2008 and then I stopped and went back to the on and off of running and the shorter races. Somewhere around 2011 I was running most of the J&A races up to the 10 miler most every year. 

At that point Eugene finally got serious about his health, dropped weight, and started running. Unfortunately, I had kind of gone the other way. However, when he started running marathons in 2014, I found being a spectator was no fun. We went back to Disney in 2015 and I ran the half again for the first time in 7 years. I was feeling good and ran 2 more halfs in April. 

Some time before this I found out a good friend had leukemia and I wanted to do something, so in April of 2015 I joined TNT and signed up for my first marathon in November, almost exactly 13 years after my first 5K. 

Unfortunately, training did not go as planned over the summer. I did run a few 10 milers and 2 more half marathons in October. I was out of time, I got in an 18 miler 3 weeks before the race. I was a little terrified. I was pretty used to pain, but I knew how much a half marathon hurt, a full has to be overwhelming. 

We went to the TNT dinner and got inspired, woke up at the crack of dawn as usual for races and I was heading to the start line ready to “run” my first marathon. With TNT, there were lots of coaches along the way and that was helpful but my true coach and best friend stayed beside me all the way. At first, I was feeling excited and adrenaline was pulling me along, but as the miles passed, so did my energy. When we got to mile 13.1, my body was thinking ok this is far enough, but I had to do the whole 13.1 again!  My walk breaks grew slower and slower. Eugene had to take my hand and pull me along, so I didn't slow down too much. I was getting pretty cranky. We were blessed to have 2 of the coaches with us through a good portion of the race which took my mind off of the miles, the time, and the pain. All I could do was keep going, quitting wasn't an option. There are so many people, children included,  fighting much worse fights with their health as  they try to stay alive and not quit. I could do this for a few hours. As we neared the last couple of miles we met more of the coaches. I was the last team member to finish, so all of the coaches were with me at the finish line. I was surrounded by a “ great cloud of witnesses”! I got to cross the line hand in hand with my wonderful husband who had stayed with me all 6 hours and 48 minutes! I almost I cried as I realized I could now say, “ I am a marathoner” . 

Completing that comes with many lessons that can’t be told at once.  There are so many lessons and analogies in the marathon that apply to life. Keep fighting the good fight and never give up! 

As always my friends....HAVE A FUN RUN.

Eugene Thompson

RUN Eugene RUN

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PSSS: We will have tshirts and new products shortly!

PSSSS: Watch for the new goals for 2016 coming in January and how you can help!

Now I'm done!