News Flash - 49 Year Old Survives 10-Miler

My friend Karen lost her son Justin a year ago last Easter to a prescription drug overdose. Justin was Whitney's age and they were in first grade together. It has been a very hard time for Karen and her family. So in order to put some closure on his death and to bring attention to the problem in our community of young people and prescription drug usage, the 1st Annual Justin C. Haeger 10 Miler was born.

When the idea was first mentioned at one of our Bunco gatherings, I was very gung-ho. I wanted to do something to show Karen and Ron that Justin was not being forgotten and that I would take part somehow in support. I was thinking of volunteering to help or maybe walking part of the course. I trained a little and even as the day of the race arrived, my thought was to go part way and turn around and come back. However, I was walking with my friend Gail and we are just enough competative that as we left the starting line, we became more and more determined to finish the course -all ten miles. At mile two I was still feeling great - how hard can it be? At mile four, I knew I was almost halfway so it seemed silly to turn around then. At mile 5.5 we came to a huge hill. I sucked in a lot of air and got the start of a blister on my heel, but I made it and knew at this point there was no way to cut the race short. I stopped briefly to apply bandaids - I had thought to stick a couple in my shoe - and made it to the water station at mile 6.5. My hips and thighs were starting to get sore at mile 7, but I was sure I could make it. Mile 8 included another big hill and it was soon after that that I realized my backside was numb! There was a long stretch of downhill which felt great, but there was the looming realization that what goes down must come back up. There were two hills in the last 1.5 miles. The last .5 miles nearly killed me. I was hot, had no feeling in the lower half of my body except for the blister, and I just wanted to sit down and wait for a bus. BUT I DID IT! I briskly walked 10 miles. We finished in 2 hours and 50 minutes. I even have the t-shirt to prove it!

Surprisingly though I am a little sore today, I am still moving pretty well and feeling pretty smug that at 49 years of age, I still have enough spunk to do a 10 mile road race. I have even had fleeting thoughts of trying it again next year to shave off a few minutes. Hmmmm......I will be 50 by then - what am I thinking?!