The Miss Ever Fantastical Liz: A Personal Moment of Triumph

Thursday, November 11, 2010

A Personal Moment of Triumph

Power breakfast, 10 glasses of water, and an an hour trying on running pants and random shoes from the Mom's closet. In my mind, "good luck"...I've never done anything like this in my life.

It was another gloomy day with slight rain as we head towards the Centrum around 10 am. The run begins at 11:30. I was expected to finish the race within an hour. I was starting to feel adrenaline and was feeling the slight discomfort from running shoes that was slightly smaller than my size.

In front of me were thousands of runners in Polish patriotic reds and whites. The gun shot was fired and off we go. My heart is racing. I am smiling.

Paula, Michal, and their friend started with the faster crowd. Ghana and I decided to pace ourselves and watch many pass by us. I was still smiling.

We saw military men, kids, families, and many trying to break their own personal bests. We kept on pacing. I was still smiling..

Cheers kept on coming, water was scarce, but we kept on running. I was running with a big smile. In front, I saw a bridge. I started to panic and I kept on smiling.

Halfway through the race we caught up with a panting Michal. He couldn't keep up with his girlfriend. I had an even bigger smile.

I saw the halfway turn - starting to feel relieved but started to feel heavy on my legs and pain around my calves. We kept on running.

In front of me is the same bridge but on my right is the view of a promising Centrum clock tower - we were more than halfway away to the finish line. The cheers kept on coming - by now I was only half smiling - the pain was getting stronger but we kept on running.

I started to smile when I see balloons and a finish line. Michal, clearly cheating to prove a faster gf he's not a wimp, I held Ghana's hand and we promised to end with a bang!

Cheers kept on getting louder and I am hearing a louder crowd with Paulina waiting with a smile at the end.

I finished the 10k with 1 stop less than hour - I was in pain and tears rolled down my eyes - I turned to Ghana..

"I can't believe we did it!"

Holding my medal with Polish colors, I sighed a moment of relief and triumph. What a great way to end a long trip...with the company of great loving friends going for the same finish line.