It was... Emotional!
I can't believe it's all over. All the training, and nerves. I can honestly say; i thoroughly enjoyed the run.
The morning got off to a memorable start, when my water bottle leaked over me in the car, leaving me looking exactly Like I'd wet myself! I had to put this bit in, cause if I didn't Mary , who found the incident highly amusing and probably nearly her highlight of the day, would have no doubt commented at the bottom of this Blog 'you forgot to write about your accident' lol.
In hindsight, the mission to find a dryer, at which I stood in my knickers, kept our minds occupied, and probably stopped us going insane with pre-race jitters.
I had my ipod loaded with my favourite tunes. At just past the halfway mark, Hope's song came on. 'you're amazing.. Just the way you are' I blinked back the tears as best as I could, as I reminded myself why I was doing this.
Seeing my lil family waiting at the end was great. Jordan and max joined me in running the last few hundred metres . Though I nearly tripped over as Max kept cutting me up , complaining at how slow I was running , and asking could I not go any faster. The fact that I'd just ran 13 miles, the last 1.5 of which were all uphill, completely insignificant to him! Lol
The fundraising has been great too. Auntie Mary raised bomb, and to my amazement the kids friend's dad- Steve, from the school, text out of the blue a few weeks before the race, and said he was running it anyway, and could he do it for Hope's wheels fund. In all, we've raised more than £1,000 (could be considerably more, but not counting my chickens till they've hatched). I've been moved by the generosity of friends. Some whom we've never met in person, but whom I'm online friends with, either through SANDS, open uni, or having a special needs child. I received some beautiful cards and letters through the post with cheques, along with a beautiful story book for hope from a fellow angel mummy. I'll keep all these forever!
At the end of the race, I was chatting with Hope's visual impairment teacher who came in just before me, and a lady approached me, and said 'i saw your pledge on your t-shirt (photo above. We had to write why we were running) and wanted to give you something towards your cause'. Well, that did it for me and Hope's teacher. Both of us were choked and teary eyed.
Mary and I had a sweaty hug as we congratulated ourselves on how far we've come. I don't think we ever imagined we'd ever actually get as far as the half marathon. We joined the half marathon training program when we were running about a mile or 2. Each week the distance grew, and we kept amazing ourselves , but we just kept saying 'we'll keep trying'. Expecting that at some point , we'd hit a wall, and not be able to do it anymore.
I know I'd never have considered it without Mary! Infact , who's crazy idea was it? What made us think 'let's do a half marathon' and not a 5k or 10k? Lol
I know I'd never have achieved it without the support from shin splints- thank you so much to all the mentors there!
But more than all that, there was one very special lil
Lady that kept me going. Each difficult step I took, I took it knowing that I CAN, and I am lucky that I can. But Hope can't. So the least I can do, is to keep stepping, so that she can have the wheels she deserves!
Love you so much my honkey. Mummy will get you the best baby wheelchair there is. You will ride in style and luxury!
Thank you for being you!!!
Xxx
