It should have been tough for me to decide whether or not to participate in the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon. I know that some of you will wonder why I took the risk of not being healed for CIM by deciding to do this race. This might be especially puzzling because I wouldn’t even get to “run.”
For me the decision was an easy one. I *am* injured. Because I have been injured for 2 weeks and counting, my training has completely stopped. I will not be in shape to BQ even if I am able to run at CIM. I gave up the San Jose Rock ‘N Roll already. If I didn’t participate at Nike too, I might still not be able to do CIM. Then I’d have done nothing. I was pretty sure that I could walk 13 miles. I would get a pretty necklace for my efforts.
I was eager to meet the 21st Century Mom. She would be my first RBF meet up and I was excited. Since I was staying with my sister, Linda and her friends (Laura, Katie and Jenny), I waited for them to arrive at the hotel. It took them a lot longer than planned but soon we were on our way down to Union Square. We detoured into Barnes and Noble for a book that Linda wanted. That was when 21CM called the first time. She was close.
Even though I’d never met her, it felt like 21st CM and I were old friends. She went with me to packet pick up, and we walked around the expotique together. My sister and her friends were pretty easy to find, so when we went over the Tiffany’s to try to peak at the necklace, they didn’t even miss me. Later, we bid eachother goodbye and went on our way.
I went with Linda and the gang to Niketown where the window of the store had all of the names of the registered participants. It was pretty amazing. The list was huge. While the girls were shopping “like girls” do, I rested my foot and ankle in the nearest stool. This was the most walking I had done in a very long time. My feet were holding up okay.
We ate a quaint little restaurant and then went back to the hotel for our pre-race preparations. For me, this took on a little different perspective. I had to be prepared for anything. I lined up plenty of nutrition and fluids plus emergency taxi money, and that sort of thing. And we all put our chips on our shoes, pinned our race numbers to our shirts, and grabbed a book for reading.
My head was the first to hit the pillow, but my body was the last to sleep. I was up until 1 pm staring at the ceiling and the other girls sleeping soundly. I guess I was nervous about whether or not I’d be able to finish.