The Pain is temporary, The Pride lasts forever!

I am still on an emotional high from Marathon Day. I am in awe of the experience and the events of the day.

You know, I realized on Marathon Day that there are just some times in your life when you just KNOW that something was just MEANT to be because there is no other way to explain how the moments worked together to cause something to happen. Let me explain...

The week before the race, I spent my 6 mile run with Joyce - one of USA Fit's members. We ran slow and just enjoyed the time. It was great. As I left the run that day, I just knew that I was going to run the race with Joyce. It wasn't something that I pondered, questioned, or even really thought about. It just "occured" to me that I would. It isn't like I really thought Joyce would "need" me or anything - she is one strong lady and I knew that no matter what she would finish that race. But, I had this feeling I WOULD run with her.

So, I didn't tell her this, but I did everything I could to plan for it and make sure that we met up before the race so that we could start off together - even telling everyone to meet at the train station at 5 am - on time! Yet, that morning EVERYTHING got in the way of us starting the race together. I picked up Marie and Yelina on time, but they weren't quite ready and so we ended up taking 5 minutes too long and got to the Doraville Marta station 6 minutes after 5 - I had told everyone, including Joyce, FIVE AM ON THE DOT! THEN, it took the girls almost 10 minutes to get their Marta passes, so by the time we got in to the station it was 15 after 5 and no one was in sight. We walked up to the train and saw one person on it so we went back down to look and wait. The train LEFT! None of the group, or Joyce, showed up.

Come to find out - they were on that train! Needless to say, when we finally got on the next train and went downtown there was no way in this world we were going to find Joyce or anyone else in that crowd of 15,000 runners! It was chaos - an absolute mad house! We couldn't even get back to the Corral that we were supposed to be in! We ended up in Corral 3 or 4 - I have no idea which because I couldn't tell! We gave up trying to push back to our Corral and just decided to try to stay out of the way of the faster people when we got started. This whole time I tried to stay calm and kept telling myself "Somehow I will find Joyce!" I had no idea HOW! It seemed IMPOSSIBLE!

It took a few minutes to get to the start, and then we were off. Before we even started the second mile, Marie had to stop at the porta-potty but there were long lines already so we decided to wait another mile. By about mile 3 she couldn't wait any longer, so we stopped at a long porta-potty line! It took us ten minutes. I wasn't happy, but tried to use the time to find Joyce so I stood there watching the masses of runners, trying to find her!! I couldn't see anyone familiar!

We got back to running and I figured that all was lost and there was no way we would find Joyce. But, a couple of miles later Marie just shouts, out of the blue, "There's Joyce!" I look around and don't see anyone and Marie says "Right there in that line." A woman turned slightly and it was Joyce standing at a different porta-potty line! Marie recognized the back of Joyce's head! In a crowd of people on the other side of the road from where we were! How does that happen?!!!! I say it was meant to happen! Call it God, the Law of Attraction, Destiny...call it whatever you want to, but regardless of circumstances and interferences, I was going to run with Joyce.

I had run 5 previous Marathons - none of which compared to this Marathon. In my other marathons I had still been surrounded by the crowds of runners. On this day, Joyce and I were mostly alone. We had the occasional person that we would pass or that would pass us, and we spoke to most of them. There were some cool people, like the guy who asked to pray for Joyce when she was having a hard time with her leg. Then the guy who was running his 107th marathon and was in his 70's and only started running in his 50's. We enjoyed the scenery - even through the freezing winds of Decatur. Joyce knew most of the neighborhoods and told me little facts about them.

We had a good time, and then the race got tough. The hills started to become a struggle, and the distance became more than Joyce had been able to run in her training runs. Through it all I KNEW she would finish - I just wanted to make sure she finished in the 7 hour time frame so that she could get the Medal! Joyce wanted that medal too, and so she kept making sure that we were on pace....staying on an average pace that was less than 15 minutes per mile. We knew that our average pace had to be less than 16 minutes per mile to finish in under 7 hours. She was on target for about a 6 and a half hour finish!

What impressed me so much about Joyce was her inner strength! It didn't matter what happend or how tired she was or how much she hurt....Joyce kept MOVING! I am certain there were times that she wanted to hit me for telling her to pump her arms and keep moving her legs, but she kept going and she didn't hit me. Lucky for me she didn't have the energy to pop me a good one upside the head by mile 25!

I tell you - that last mile felt like about 6 miles! It seemed to never end! Every time I thought it was going to be around the next corner, there was just more road and more turns. Then, we could see the park and began heading in to the park. I thought we would just have a straight shot to the finish, but NO...they had to DRAG IT OUT! There were all these curves and turns and it just kept going! I wanted to punch out the person who decided to make the finish a wiggly, curvy mass!

But, we FINALLY were coming up to the last curve and I reminded Joyce that she had saved some energy to run to the finish. She gave me that look - the one that I came to think meant she wanted to punch me out! But, we got to the curve that led to the finish line and Joyce dug deep in to her soul and pulled out the last remaining ounce of energy she had, and she RAN across that finish line. I won't know until I see the pictures, but I think she was even smiling!!!

Of all my Marathons this was the best finish ever. I have run all my other marathons for myself. This one wasn't about me at all. It was all for Joyce! I am so fortunate to have been able to run with her for 20 miles of her 26.2!

You know, Joyce thinks that I sacrificed my own personal time for her - especially since she actually beat me (she had a chip time of 6:38 and mine was 6:43). What she doesn't realize is that I didn't sacrifice anything - I was given a gift. The gift of knowing her, being able to run with her, and being able to be with her as she crossed that finish line and became a new person! That was NOT a sacrifice...it was an honor, one that I don't even feel worthy of!

So......to the most amazing runner I know... THANK YOU JOYCE!

I love you and I am PROUD of you!