I made it...

When I used to run to music I often times listened to a multitude of tunes. Rap, rock, pop...you name it, I listened to it. And there were a few particular songs that always put a little extra bounce in my step. One such song is titled "I Made It".

I look up to the sky,
And now the world is mine,
I've known it all my life,
I made it, I made it!
I used to dream about,
The life I'm living now,
I know that there's no doubt,
I made it, I made it!

This song could pull me up out of the darkest of thoughts during a run. Often times I found myself pumping my fists in the air to the beat of the song, just reminding myself that I was out there. I was doing it. I had made it.

Yesterday, I ran my second marathon. 26.2 miles. I can't really put the last 18 weeks into adequate words. There were a lot of runs. A LOT. And attempts at trying to juggle everything. And sometimes failing miserably. And there was family. And there were friends. Lots and lots of friends.

Kel and I are runners. We're also wives, and mothers, and full time career women, and board members, and volunteers. The list goes on. And if it weren't for all of the similarities between the two of us (including our looks!) I'm 100% certain that my life would not be as fulfilled as it is now. Anyone who is anyone in my life, from my family, to my other friends, to my co-workers, knows who Kelly is. So of course it was only natural that we would be running the same race. We have run every race together in 2011. It's a year for the record books, that's for sure.

And if it weren't for Kel, I wouldn't have met anyone in our running group, Perfect Strangers. These women are my net. We love eachother. We support eachother. We need eachother. These women are a large part of the reason that I continue to run.

Yesterday our bodies pulled off an amazing accomplishment. Just last week I told Kel that I didn't care if it took us 3 hours, or 13 hours, to finish the marathon. I don't care who you are...you can't just go out and run 26.2 miles without putting some serious training in first. We are strong women. WE ARE STRONG WOMEN. And we will continue to put one foot in front of the other, and pound that pavement, step by step...together...for as long as we can. Because it's what we do. It's who we are. We run because we can.

I vividly remember every bit of yesterday's race (which is an accomplishment in and of itself because typically I feel like I black out - ha!). The first 13 miles absolutely flew by. I was running with my girls. I had Kelly, our friend Meghan and my sweet sister, Betsy, with me. We saw friends. We saw Jeremy. We saw Kelly's friends who are so wonderful that they threw MY name on HER sign. These people care enough about me, while hardly even knowing me, because they love Kel, and they know we kind of go hand in hand. Especially with our running. There was a lot of "Go Kelly and Jaime!" I mean come on, it doesn't get much better than that...

Unfortunately, though, with all the pros of running, there also come some cons. Pain. There's a lot of pain. And anything...and I mean ANYTHING...can throw you off. Too much water. Not enough water. Too many carbs. Not enough carbs. I get that it seems like you can just lace up and run out the door, and typically you can. But not when the mother of all races is waiting for you. You have to prep. You have to hope. You have to pray.

I knew at mile 13 that Kel wasn't feeling well. She'd mentioned that her hips were hurting, and her calves were cramping. But girl kept on keepin' on... But I knew it was getting bad. I can read her like a book. I could tell. And my heart was breaking for her.

I continued to check on both her and Betsy. Conversation started to drop off, the winces of pain were there. This was getting hard. Just before mile 15, Betsy ran up to me and said "Jaim, we are not leaving her. You said you wouldn't leave her." And I turned and said "I know that, but I have to do something. Just let me go. I have to get to Mike. Stay with Kelly." I knew Kelly's husband was waiting at mile 15. And I wanted him to be ready.

As soon as I saw their group I beelined for him. "Mike, she's hurting. Something's wrong. She's upset. Please help. I don't know what to do." And he didn't say a word. He jumped around me, into the street, and bent down as fast as he could just as she arrived so he could massage her calves. I loved on her girls to keep them entertained. And I vaguely remember saying goodbye to our other friends as we started the run again.

Miles 15-19 are probably the haziest of the entire race. I do remember thinking that something had to happen. Something bad had to hit. I wasn't supposed to feel THIS good. And then I started to get scared. If I felt so good then, what would happen at 20? Would my body just give up? The last 6.2 miles scare the hell out of me.

I made sure I had my girls. They were still with me. They were within sight. Kel asked me to go on, to race my race. Betsy screamed out "NO!" and I told her that I cared WAY more about her and her wellbeing than I did about some stupid race time. I was with her, and we were going to finish.

And then the bad hit. My achilles didn't just start to whisper to me, it started screaming. Loudly. I had done a bit of stopping and re-starting, and I had clearly tweaked something. It came on like a freight train. I was fine one step, and debillitated the next. And I panicked.

Right at this point, I looked beside me and Betsy was there, but I couldn't find Kel. I knew she was behind us, but I didn't know how far. And then I saw our friend's husband, and he literally had a bottle of meds in his hand. "Jaime! Beth just passed. She told me to get the meds ready for Kel. Where is she?"

And I started to cry. I had come to a cross road. I was in pain. Excruciating pain. And the only thing, shockingly, that made the pain go away was to keep running at a pretty fast clip. I had my sister. But I didn't have my best friend. I literally felt my heart rip in two...

What was the right thing to do?

"Jeff, can you do me a favor? I'm in pain. I have to go. But will you please tell her I love her? And that I'm sorry?" Thank God for Jeff. He gave me a look that told me everything would be fine, and Betsy squeezed my hand and smiled, and told me how proud she was of me, and how proud she was to be my sister, and how she thanks God every day for me. And she told me that we were going to finish. And we were going to do it together. So I wiped my tears. And I ran...I never looked back. I never stopped.

I remember thinking at mile 21 that all of the pain was gone. And then it would creep back in just to remind me "nope, I'm still here. Keep running." I remember getting to 23 and seeing our friend Karie and thinking "holy shit! 23?! How in the world did that happen? I only have 3 miles left!" And then I heard my sister literally screaming behind me for Karie. "Karie! I love you! Oh my gosh you have your tutu on! Did I tell you that I love you?"

And I smiled, and I laughed...HARD. Leave it to Bets to not say a word for the last two miles and then pull that out when she saw Karie. But it helped me. I had pulled away from her, and it was all I needed to know that she was there. And she was okay.

At 23.5 I jumped to the curb and bent down to re-tie my shoe. The pain had shifted, and things were throbbing. I tried not to focus on them, but I couldn't help it. Something had to be done about that dang shoe! And just as I finished tying, I stood up, and had one foot off the curb, and I looked left... "Bets!"

She never stopped. She kept running. I jumped in. She glanced over. "Oh thank God! There you are! I need you. PLEASE finish this with me. Stay with me. I am so proud of us. I can't believe we are doing this. PLEASE finish with me." Of course I would finish with her! I could go on for hours about how much Betsy has overcome in the last two years. And I know how much running has had to do with her continuing to move forward. I was so proud to be with her. So proud to be a part of this. A part of her history in the making.

And then she pulled this out...

"Jaime, we are doing it! I am so happy, I am so proud! I am SO beating your first marathon time!" If I didn't love her so much I would have kicked some dirt up in her face and taken off :)

We saw my friend Meggie. We saw my friend Amy. I needed them both. Amazing women. Amazing friends. And then we saw my dad.

Oh my gosh. My dad. Our dad.

There he was, on the side of the street, waiting. And smiling. I practically barreled through him.
And with that, he was on the street. He was running. He was talking to us. He never once stopped talking. And it was absolutely, positively, what I needed. He was such a force of strength in that last .2. He pushed us through to the end. He told us how proud he was. He told us he loved us. He asked us how in the hell we were moving THAT quickly and leaving him in the dust when he hadn't run at all that day! I turned and told Betsy I was kicking it in, that the finish line was literally right around the corner. And I heard my dad..."Go Jaime! Go! Bring it home. You've got this! GO!" And I took off.

I rounded the corner and saw the finish line. I passed someone. I saw the crowd of fans. And then, without even thinking it, I threw my hands in the air. I curled them into fists. And I pumped them as hard as I could and bawled my eyes out as I came up to those final few steps completely alone...and the crowd literally went wild with cheers.

I look up to the sky,
And now the world is mine,
I've known it all my life,
I made it, I made it!
I used to dream about,
The life I'm living now,
I know that there's no doubt,
I made it, I made it!

4:36. Damn I'm proud...