Yesterday I ran the marathon relay I’ve been training for. You can catch the recap here.

Before the race, I was really nervous. Not just because I had only run 8K twice before, but I wanted to get a good time and so I set one goal for myself: to run my entire course without stopping to walk.

Call me vain, but I really didn’t want people to see me walking. Especially since my leg of the race was in the last half for the marathoners and us relay participants were clearly marked with blue numbers, while the marathoners wore green ones. Anyone who saw my number would know I was in it for 8K, not the full 42K. I certainly couldn’t stop to walk!

Yeah, vain. I know.

Once I settled into my run, somewhere between the 2rd and 3rd kilometer, I found a complete peace with myself.

I know I don’t have a perfect body.

I know I have pounds to shed.

Instead of dwelling on my shortcomings, I thought about how far I’d come. A mere 62 days ago, I could run for 2 minutes at a time. Here I was now, aiming for a time just shy of an hour.

Complete strangers lined the entire route. They clapped, they cheered, they shouted words of encouragement, handed me water, and little kids gave me high fives and toothy smiles. Long after I’d passed certain people, their words rang in my head:

“Looking good!”
“Keep going!”
“You’re doing great!”

If only these people could be with me every time I ran! (I guess that’s one reason I blog - for the encouragement of others.)

Those words and the positive thinking they invoked carried my imperfect body across 8 kilometers of shin splints and breathlessness.

I finished my course in 55 minutes, beating my previous record. Engulfed by my family, I was proud of myself and grateful for the support through the route, through my 62 days of training, and at the end where my husband kissed me and called me amazing. My kids were proud, my husband was proud, hell, I was proud.

It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it and find that peace within.