ING Georgia half-marathon

I continued to slowly improve from Lyme disease this week. By the 10th day on antibiotics I felt almost normal. I was still weak, but no longer felt like I needed to sleep all day nor did I have any mental challenges. In the middle of this week, my very first college roomate wrote to me to say that she made a donation in my name to the charity that I had planned to run for in the ING Georgia half-marathon. She said that a friend of hers (Kara) has Cystic Fibrosis and to please keep her in my thoughts as I ran the race. The next morning my daughter asked me if I still intended to run the race. I told her about the email and said that even if I'm not strong enough to run the entire race, I know I can at least walk the entire distance and since quite a few people have made donations in my name, the least I can do is to try. I made that firm decision on Thursday morning.

Friday was my birthday and was also the night of the charity pre-race dinner. This first picture includes Katelyn (a neighbor who is also running), Katelyn's mother, me, and Susan (a remarkable woman that lives in my neighborhood, has Cystic Fibrosis, and recruited us to run for Team 65ROSES.)

My sister came down on Saturday and we went to the race expo together. She bought me a cool running-related t-shirt, that I picked out, for my birthday. THANKS Laura! After the expo we went out to an early dinner (pasta and salmon) and then went back home and pulled out our clothes for the next day. We got up early, go dressed, picked up Katelyn and then drove to MARTA. I felt good at the start of the race. I stayed with my sister for about a quarter of a mile then let her speed off. My goal was to go slow and finish. I was so excited to see and high-five my buddy Bryan who had volunteered as a course marshall for Team 65ROSES! He always makes me smile!!! Then I was thrilled to see Susan, Leah, Carol, Lauren, etc. at the first hydration station that was manned by Team 65ROSES. I felt good for the first 5 miles and then my left knee started having sharp pains again. I had hoped that the forced running break would have cured it, but I guess not. I ended up walking the last half of the race because of my knee pains rather than my illness. At a few points I considered stopping and asking for a ride back to the finish line, but thoughts of Kara and Susan kept me going. I was doing this for a greater cause. I finally finished in 3 hours and 19 minutes. This is by far my slowest half-marathon ever, but my goal from a few days ago was to simply finish, even if I had to walk the entire route. At least I was able to jog the first half; and I finished 13.1 miles!

Days run this week: 1

Miles run/walk this week: 13.1

Highlight of the week: Completed the ING Georgia half-marathon

Goal for next week: Rest