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She Believed, So She Did (Weekly Photo Challenge: Partners)

As I sat on the bus at 5:45 a.m., I was reminded that the next several hours were going to come down to believing I could do it … I would do it … I was going to run a marathon.

Despite the weather forecast, my anxiety disappeared the day before the race (perhaps recounting the Top 10 Reasons I would not let the forecast mar my marathon experience was the outlet my nerves needed).

Grandma’s Marathon morning dawned warm and humid by Duluth standards, minimizing layers that needed to be packed for the early morning shuttle ride to the starting line.  While on the bus, my friend jokingly said to me, “Better start your watch now!” because it often seemed so slow to connect during our training runs …. and I looked down and saw an empty wrist — my GPS watch was still plugged into the charger at home! I took it as a sign that time truly should not matter, and it was a reminder to be fully present during the journey that lay ahead of us that morning.

Lined up in the starting corral with 7,200+ runners at Grandma’s Marathon 2016! 
A good friend is someone who says, “Hey, do you want some company for 26.2 miles?” And then at mile 22 or so turns to you and says, “I must really love you a lot to have agreed to do this with you!”  My friend had run 13 marathons, the last being 15 years earlier …. and came out of marathon retirement to help me get to the finish line of my first.

It was a brutal day for a run.  It was over 70 degrees F at the start with humidity pushing 80%.  The flags signaling race safety in light of the weather conditions (based on the American College of Sports Medicine’s guidelines) quickly moved from yellow by the 10K mark, to red by the halfway point, to black (signaling extreme risk for heat exhaustion) for the last 8 -9 miles of our race.  We were not planning on breaking any records even on the best of weather days, and kept our pace slow and steady, walking through the aid stations that were staffed by volunteers every two miles beginning at mile 3, and then every mile beginning at mile 19, to maximize hydration, dump a cup of water or two overhead, and stuff ice cubes in the sports bra to help with the heat that was inescapable.

As we left the aid station at mile 25, there was no more stopping, and we picked up the pace, just wanting to be done!  Words were few, as we focused on the last turns to the finish line.  I could feel a burst of emotion seeing that arch of balloons marking the finish line, with Duluth’s iconic lift bridge looming in the background.  Partners in training and partners with hands jubilantly raised as we crossed the finish line together in 5 hours, 15 minutes — on a day that many seasoned marathoners said was one of their toughest, due to the warm temperatures and high humidity.

She believed, so she did ….

Ciao! ~ Kat

This post was in response to the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge. “Partners” is this week’s theme. Everyone is welcome to join in the Challenge; further details on how to participate and links to others’ responses are found here: Partners.


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20 responses to “She Believed, So She Did (Weekly Photo Challenge: Partners)”

  1. So VERY proud of you! Your vigilance and belief was awesome! Thank you for following your inspiration and then sharing it with us.

    And Happy 4th of July weekend–you’re not running in a 5K or anything are you, just for fun?

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  2. What a fantastic achievement! It is anyway, but especially with these temperatures and humidity! Congrats! Nice photo’s, they make me smile 🙂 And you inspire me to go running again, even though I will never be in shape enough for a marathon…

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    • Ahhh, never say never, Noortje! I had slipped back to barely running 3 miles last August and slowly built up the mileage over 9 months time! Ran to finish, not for speed — but happy to go back to shorter runs for now!

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  6. This was a great story and congrats on such an awesome accomplishment! I have run both 5K and 10K races in a younger fitter life so I salute you staying the course; well done!!! 🙂

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  7. Congratulations!! What an accomplishment. I have been thinking of preparing for a marathon to run in next year. Haven’t ran since I was in the National Guard but loved it – that runners high is a wonderful feeling. I think you have inspired me – now to find a partner:)

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    • Take it a mile at a time — both training and the race – and you will get there! Maybe there’s a local running group who has a training group for an area marathon you could join? Ours had people of all places and you are certain to fall into a partner or two there! I love running, too, and told myself not to fall as far off the wagon as I had last fall when I started building back mileage again.

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      • I’ll check it out. There might be a Meet Up group for those getting back into running!! When I first started it was a 1/4 mile at a time, then a 1/2 mile, 1 mile up to 2 miles and then ran a 5K but that was the best. Still not bad though. Looking forward to partnering up with someone. Thank you!!

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  8. Reblogged this on Travel. Garden. Eat. and commented:

    For those following my blog though the WordPress Reader, this post didn’t seem to appear when I initially edited it to publish yesterday. In the spirit of that often-seen running meme …. “How do you know if someone ran a marathon? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you!” ~ Kat

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  9. Celebrating your crossing the finish line both literally and figuratively from herewith a few tears of awe, joy and love- to your awesome friend at your side-to the community you reached out to and leaned on beautiful emotions beautiful capture in writing- tho’ those who know you never had any doubts!

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