Shamrock Run -We Rocked!

Julie, (our daughter), Lori (my sister-in-law), and I participated in the Shamrock Run on Sunday. Lori and some of her girlfriends, from Dundee school, decided it would be fun to do so they invited Julie and I to join them. We originally signed up for the three mile walk but changed it at the last minute to the 8K ( five miles) run/walk.

I haven't been doing much running, but Denny and I walk five days a week and we walk hills. So I decided I would run as much of it as I could and then walk some. Lori ran/walked with her girlfriends and Julie and I took off running together. At about the two mile mark, I told Julie to go ahead because I wasn't sure I could keep up with her. She is a great runner and runs at least five times a week. The first mile seemed like it took half an hour. Then the second mile was a killer. It was almost all up hill. So I was going to stop once I hit the two mile sign but I noticed we were going to be going down hill some, so I kept running. Then about at the 2 1/2 mile mark, we started up hill again. I kept looking for the three mile sign but I never did see it. But I could see that a lot of the rest of the course was down hill or flat. All of a sudden, there was the four mile sign. I knew at that point I was not going to be stop running. So, I ran the entire five miles! Before the run, I had thought that if I had the energy, I wanted to sprint at the end. So when I was about a block away, I sprinted as fast I could. It felt so good. I really was proud of myself and I finished in 58 minutes. I was four minutes behind Julie. I wasn't even sore afterwards and went shopping the rest of the day. I ended up with over 21,000 steps on my pedometer. I usually try to walk 10,000 steps each day. Julie said she ended up with over 30,000 steps because she parked her car a ways from the race site and also went shopping.

Running takes so much more time and effort for me now then it did years ago. When I worked for the Hillsboro School District, I would get up every morning at 4:45 AM and run for 45 minutes before I went to work. Still can't believe I got up that early! Anyway, it was so easy then because I would just get dressed and run out the door. How times have changed. To get ready for the Shamrock Run, I had lots of preparation to do. First of all, I had to put on my knee straps which I don't wear for walking but if I run, they help my knees from getting sore, then I had to put on my compression shorts to keep my flab from flabbing, then I had to put on my super-duper sports bra to keep from jiggling, then I had to wear a hat (even though it makes your head hotter) because my hair is so sparse in places, then I had to take an anti-inflammatory pill because my toe sometimes hurts when I run or walk. So I figured I had a six handy-cap before I even started the race! Oh, almost forgot, add metastatic cancer to that. Now I have a seven handy-cap! Plus, I had to put on my pedometer, cell phone, and I-POD. Like I said; it wasn't like the good old days when I just walked out my door and went running!

Don't know if I will run much in the future. I am satisfied with walking. But I like to set goals and challenges for myself. And I had decided that I wanted to run as much of the Shamrock Run as I could. So, I feel like I "stepped up to the plate" and met my challenge and goal. I feel very blessed to have been able to do that. I know how lucky I am to have the energy while having metastatic cancer. Hope it lasts for a long time, but if not, I can always think back on sprinting to the finish line!

Love to you all,

JO