I'm Back!!! Race Day Recap

It has been forever, I know. And somehow I never even got on here to recap the actual race day! Let me try to do that in so many words...

The night before the race we had all of the runners and some family over to our house for the pre-race carb load. Our cousin, John, came all the way up from South Carolina to surprise everyone and to support us in the race (or so he thought). If you've ever been around more than one Pippett at a time, you know the persuasive powers of the family. Needless to say, by the end of the night we had John convinced he was running the race with us! You can sneak into the race without being registered, and that is exactly what John did. Some may say it was easier for him to do it since he was an athletic 16 year old, but I still was incredibly impressed that he was at the door ready to be picked up at 5:45a.m. that next morning.

That morning...there are no words for the equals parts calm/chaos that were running through my stomach as we drove downtown. Jeannine got dropped off, we picked John up, and Trey was all dressed up for his birthday in his chair in front of us. As soon as we got off 476 the energy was in the air. The nerves started to wilt away as I saw more and more runners walking towards Ben Franklin Parkway, where the race was waiting to begin.

As we reached Eakins Circle (sp?) we said our goodbyes to Mom, Pops and the little guy...waited in line for one last potty break and made our way to our assigned corrals. Jeannine, the more experienced runner, was in a corral much farther ahead than John and myself. We were in the far back...basically the end of the pack, ha. But...we did find the rest of our runners! By chance I saw Aunt Becky and Aunt Beth on the sideline, looking as if they just said goodbye to their nervous runners. I tracked them down and found the pack!

The music was going and it was time...our corral began and we were off. I was able to keep up with the rest of our runners for about the first two miles and then had to continue on my own. I will say that at one point around Mile 6 I started allowing myself to think about the reason behind my running and started thinking about Trey and got a bit worked up. Well, let me know tell you...crying and running do not go together, ha...so I had to collect myself before I had an asthma attack and keep on going, ha. I was in quite a groove until we reached Fairmount Park and I said hello to a huge, unexpected hill. I tried to keep running/jogging up the hill a bit and then reality set in and I decided to walk "with purpose" up the hill. I knew if I saved my energy getting up the hill I'd be able to run some more for the last 3-4 miles.

At last...the end was in sight! I saw the Art Museum and I was running towards it! Running along the Schuykill with Manayunk on the other side of the river was such a beautiful sight. We honestly lucked out completely with the weather that morning (low-mid 40's and sunny), and the beauty certainly helped me keep going. Just as I started to round the corner for my last 200 yards or so of the race I look to the sideline and see none other than Jen DePetris (a friend from high school). I automatically screamed to her and totally took her offguard. We hugged, she said I didn't look tired at all and told me I was almost to the end. That little bit of unexpected encouragement pulled me through to the end. And I have to say, there is not much like running through those last 100 yards with screaming people on either side rooting you on. There is no way you couldn't feel like a rockstar. And I did it...I crossed the finish line. As I crossed, collected my medal and got a water I turned to my right and broke down. The entire day enveloped me as I had turned to my right and saw my own personal cheering section (Mom, Pops, Trey, Coll, Chris, Uncle Dennis, Michelle and Jeannine). That feeling is something I will never forget and I cannot wait for it all over again in November!