After the race, I tried to put on one of the aluminum foil-like "blankets" that were being distributed in the convention center, but I was too hot. The purpose of the blanket was to keep me warm, and I did not need that assistance.
I found a spot on the concrete floor, and set up camp to check out my blisters and go through the things from the bag I had checked. I doctored my blister which was disgusting and put on some flip flops and really could have laid there for hours. I got some phone calls and texts that I tried to answer, but I really wanted just to mold with the floor for awhile.
I finally reconnected with my friends. Jen had made a poster for me complete with a color photo of myself on it. She and Will and Baby Georgie and Kelley all took pics with me. Then, I went to go fetch my free breakfast while Kelley waited in the non-participant zone.
In the breakfast line, I noticed a full marathon finisher in front of me. I congratulated her and she apologized for being emotional. I tried to console her since I could imagine being emotional if I had just ran 26.2 miles.
She told me that she thought she had qualified for Boston with her time based off what her watch had recorded. I congratulated her and asked her some questions about her running career--which turns out to have been only a 6 month endeavor. Pretty amazing to qualify for Boston on your first marathon try!
"That's so cool!" I said.
"Well, that's not really the cool part," she explained. "My dad died at the end of 2009, and he had been in a wheelchair. I never felt like he had a healthy body. And today, I realized that he has a healthy body in heaven."
He had been made complete. Wow. Then, I started crying with her.
The 10 year anniversary of my own father's death from pancreatic cancer was the following day, so it was heavily on my mind that day. I totally understood what she meant by healing happening in heaven.
I got her name and did my best to use whatever mnemonic device I could conjure to remember it, because I felt it was divine I met this girl. She had moved to Houston six months before to be closer to family after her father's death.
I took my breakfast back to meet Kelley, and then we both went out to cheer for the rest of the runners. It was addictive cheering for them. Kelley and I both have cheerleader blood in our veins, and we didn't need our skirts on to remember how to encourage people.
It was so much fun getting stories of the fans around us. People cheering for their moms and dads and brothers and sisters and friends. We couldn't tear ourselves away.
I will be back to the Houston marathon--maybe not as a runner since my body still quite isn't right two weeks later, but I will be back in some form.
God had a purpose for me to run that race. And I ran it. And he blessed me with some new & old friends and stories that are forever woven onto my heart. I thought I was just supposed to run a half-marathon, but I got a whole lot more blessings! (okay, and blisters!)
I found a spot on the concrete floor, and set up camp to check out my blisters and go through the things from the bag I had checked. I doctored my blister which was disgusting and put on some flip flops and really could have laid there for hours. I got some phone calls and texts that I tried to answer, but I really wanted just to mold with the floor for awhile.
I finally reconnected with my friends. Jen had made a poster for me complete with a color photo of myself on it. She and Will and Baby Georgie and Kelley all took pics with me. Then, I went to go fetch my free breakfast while Kelley waited in the non-participant zone.
In the breakfast line, I noticed a full marathon finisher in front of me. I congratulated her and she apologized for being emotional. I tried to console her since I could imagine being emotional if I had just ran 26.2 miles.
She told me that she thought she had qualified for Boston with her time based off what her watch had recorded. I congratulated her and asked her some questions about her running career--which turns out to have been only a 6 month endeavor. Pretty amazing to qualify for Boston on your first marathon try!
"That's so cool!" I said.
"Well, that's not really the cool part," she explained. "My dad died at the end of 2009, and he had been in a wheelchair. I never felt like he had a healthy body. And today, I realized that he has a healthy body in heaven."
He had been made complete. Wow. Then, I started crying with her.
The 10 year anniversary of my own father's death from pancreatic cancer was the following day, so it was heavily on my mind that day. I totally understood what she meant by healing happening in heaven.
I got her name and did my best to use whatever mnemonic device I could conjure to remember it, because I felt it was divine I met this girl. She had moved to Houston six months before to be closer to family after her father's death.
I took my breakfast back to meet Kelley, and then we both went out to cheer for the rest of the runners. It was addictive cheering for them. Kelley and I both have cheerleader blood in our veins, and we didn't need our skirts on to remember how to encourage people.
It was so much fun getting stories of the fans around us. People cheering for their moms and dads and brothers and sisters and friends. We couldn't tear ourselves away.
I will be back to the Houston marathon--maybe not as a runner since my body still quite isn't right two weeks later, but I will be back in some form.
God had a purpose for me to run that race. And I ran it. And he blessed me with some new & old friends and stories that are forever woven onto my heart. I thought I was just supposed to run a half-marathon, but I got a whole lot more blessings! (okay, and blisters!)
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