You don't have to go fast. You just have to go.

I've always viewed people who do marathons as strange people. I mean, who would want to run to begin with, not to mention for 26.2 stinkin' miles?!? So, when I told my friends that I'd join them in walking a half-marathon, I saw no similarities between me and the other people who had registered, including my friends. I mean, they were all healthy, to start. I thought for sure I would be the fattest person there, looked at funny, made fun of and so on.

I think I was stressing out more over how people would percieve me than the fact that I had signed-on to walk 13.1 miles. We had to drive almost 4 hours to Fresno for the race and didn't stop at our hotel, just went straight to the expo that was held the night before to register, get our bibs, etc for the next day. It started off with me getting my bib and my shirt (I had registered for a womens' 2X) then looking at my shirt thinking, "There's no way this will fit me!" I approached the person who seemed the chunkiest at the shirt table and asked if they might have something bigger. She wrinkled her nose and huffed, "No, that's as big as they get." Great. Healthy-marathon-people, 1; Me, 0.

We rounded the first corner of the expo and ran smack-dab into the first vendor of the day, OneMoreMile.net. I'm not a runner, barely what I would consider a "walker" and I must say I loved their products! They had shirts (none of which looked remotely my size), hats, stickers, and all kinds of athletic-y stuff which I didn't know what it was all used for (and am still wondering about the whole "marathon glove" thing? Anybody?!?) But, what I loved the most was a bumper sticker that said, "You don't have to go fast. You just have to go." I decided then and there, that this would be my mantra for the next day.

I must say, my friends were wonderful! There were 10 of us participating in the race and one of them was pretty experienced in the whole "running big races" thing. She and her husband were kind enough to host us all for a wonderful pre-race dinner Saturday night. (Thanks, Di and Andy!) Then they organized our caravan at 5:40am (Yes, I got up at the butt-crack of dawn to exercise...shocker!) My friends were so wonderful! There were 3 runners and the rest of us walked the half-marathon. I am eternally grateful to Jo for giving me a pep talk that inspired me just before the race started.

My friends were walking at a faster pace than I so I told them to go ahead and I'd meet them at the finish line. I plugged in my ipod earbuds, and set off on my own, determined to complete this. And I did. It took me 4 hours, 25 minutes and 11 seconds to walk 13.1 miles, but I did it. Sure, I may have taken longer to walk a half-marathon than it took many people to run a whole one, but I did it! I finished 581 out of 598 women walking the half-marathon portion, but not only did I do it, but I did and still managed to crack jokes with strangers on the sidelines in the last half-mile! There were many times when I wanted to quit, when my blisters were hurting so bad I wanted to cry, when I saw person after person passing me. That's when I thought of my family, especially my daughter. I so wanted to make her proud of me, but to do that, I had to finish what I started.

Seeing my friend Rachel at the finish line was the best part of the race, after finishing of course! She gave me the biggest hug, sweat and all...now THAT'S a friend! I started telling her that I did this to prove to everyone that I could do it. The problem was, the person I had to prove it to the most was myself. My old self would've made big plans, started out with gusto, then quickly petered out and not gone through with it. I'm not just talking about weight-loss stuff, either. I did that with everything in my life. But, after accomplishing this and realizing that I can in fact, do anything I set my mind to do, I can apply this new boost of confidence to all areas of my life. After all, there were total strangers on the side of the course cheering me on. If they don't know me and still have faith in me, then I guess I should too!

So, yeah, I have to admit that I used to think marathon-people were crazy! Now, I can't wait to do another half-marathon. Guess I'm crazy, too. But, as I look back, I can't help but remember one of the bumper stickers I saw said, "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."--John J. Bingham