I won't fall...

... as long as my Team is around me. I experienced the true meaning of this statement and these needtobreathe lyrics on Sunday. If it hadn't been for the encouragement of my coach, mentor, and teammates, I would have stopped running after 7.5 miles. The morning started off at 6:00 with an incredibly steamy atmosphere and a nervous energy that I usually only experience before a bona fide long distance race. Nonetheless, we decided to run the first 6 miles of the Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon course, then double back to the beach, making a water stop there and then doing the BRB Half Marathon course completely. That would have equaled 20 miles. In the end, that is what Kelly accomplished :) :) I, however, had a very hard first 7.5 miles and was really questioning my ability to finish. I had, however, been out for 5-6 weeks before this! The longest I had run before this was 15 miles 6 weeks ago and then 8 miles last Sunday... Well, when we refueled at the Beach, I was feeling very doubtful that I would be able to do the full marathon in San Diego. I have already said that if I end up unable to do the whole thing because of my injury, I will not be at all disappointed - I have raised almost $3300 for the LLS! What's not to be excited about?!? That's great. However, I did say yesterday when I was frustrated that I wish there was a 30k (20 mile) option in the Marathon... because I could totally do that :)

So to make an extremely long story short, Mauri and Sherri encouraged me to just keep pushing and to let those people who I will never meet but who I have helped so much already through my fundraising be my inspiration. To let what they are fighting every day be my inspiration to fight the fatigue that I was feeling in my quads. When all was said and done, I ended up completing 15 miles yesterday. I was psyched! Yes, I did walk some, but I had planned to do that. Tony says he walked a lot at the end when he ran the Nashville Marathon, so I figured I'm allowed to do that some too, hahaha.

So, when all was said and done, I just know that I couldn't do this without Mauri and Sherri and my Team. That was certainly proven yesterday... <3 y'all.

Until then,
Melissa