Today was the day I have been looking forward to for months. It was the day I kept getting myself out of bed early and kicking myself in gear to get my daily run or other exercise in. It was the day I would finally prove to myself that I would be able to accomplish the goal I had set back in about October. Today was the day I ran my first 10k at Ethan's Run in honor of my Kyson!
Last night I decided it would be good to drive the course of the race so I would know what I was up against. I'm so glad I did because driving the course helped me mentally prepare for it all. This race is all hills so you are either going uphill or downhill the whole way. That was tough for me because around my house (where I've been running) it is completely flat!
Before the race I had Jared take a picture of me and my motivation...Kyson:)
Overall I felt like my race went great. I was slightly disappointed with my finishing time but I realize that since I never trained with hills it was ok. Most importantly I accomplished my goal of running the entire way so I was happy about that! Now that I have my first race behind me, it'll give me something to improve on for next time:) I really hope to do this race again! One thing that I know will help me next time is to have a watch or something to help keep track of my pace with each mile. Today I had no clue how fast I was going until I got my time at the end!
While I was running the race Jared took our boys to play on the bounce houses and have the pancake breakfast that was available.
Kyson found Clifford:)
...and bubbles!
Caleb just loved the bounce houses!
Just after I finished the race...
One of my favorite parts of this race is being able to meet in person all of the "Heart Moms" and "Heart Kids" that I have never met in person. It was also great to say hi to so many that I have met before. We ran into Liz Dennison and she had a surprise for Kyson...a Jakey Blankie!!! Thank you so very much! (By the way I have a link on my sidebar to Liz's blog. She is accepting donations to make Jakey Blankies to send to heart babies in the hospital. I think it's such an amazing way to honor her son and I'm sure that every family that recieves one of these blankets is so grateful for it!!! Make a donation if you can!)
Once we got home from the race I realized that I had never taken a picture of the shirt I wore while running... 
I took this picture of Kyson and had it printed on a shirt as a constant reminder to myself of why I was running. I kept thinking about all that Kyson has to endure in just three short weeks and knew that the pain I was feeling at the time was NOTHING in comparison. Oh how I wish I could protect him and never have to watch him go through so much. Of course that's not possible and so I will do my best to learn as much as I can from this trial and from Kyson so I can be the kind of the mother he deserves.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
My first 10k at Ethan's Run
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9 comments:
You are amazing!!! Great job. Kyson is so blessed to have you as his mother.
Oh it makes me wish I was in shape enough to run with you! You are amazing and so is Kyson! You will be in our prayers!
Wonderful! I am so proud of you! Well done and congratulations. What a wonderful event and I want to participate one of these days.
I think you did great! Go Andrea! Kyson is a very special kid and yes he is very lucky to have you for a Mother!
And you looked just as gorgeous after 6.2 miles as you did when you started! So great to meet you!!!
super duper great job! you are amazing for doing that. did you know liz is my cousin? she's amazing, too!
You are amazing! I know that your faith is going to bless so many other people including Kyson. I will be there for you through it all...so just remember that! I love you!
Way to go, Andrea! I feel like accomplishing a running goal is always so emotional (I cry when they run half marathons and marathons on Biggest Loser), but doing it with such a personal motivation must have been amazing! That's so awesome!!
Way to go! The race sounds like fun... ( i use to run races before Logan came!) Sometimes when I run the motivation for me to keep going and pushing myself is knowing with these single ventricle kiddo's they might not ever be able to push themselves that hard physically- that makes me sad, and in turn makes me push myself harder. They really have been through in their short life more than some of us will ever go through.
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