Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon (half) recap #5 out of 14

Before the race I wrote this post about letting go of my expectations and last year after the half I wrote these posts that outlined 13 lessons learned from my first half: Part 1; Part 2; and Part 3.  I am not going to repeat those lessons but I want to share a few things that I didn't share before.






This year was the 10th year for the CHKM and my second year running it.  It also became my third half and as I stated last week I had no expectations going into this race- my goal was to finish and finish strong!  I did well for the first 8 -9 miles and then the heel pain flared up and I ended up having to walk WAY more than I planned (plus I had to make an extra stop at the porta potties).  BUT, when I hit that downhill that takes you into the stadium- oh my the tears popped to my eyes and I just kept pushing.  To run into the stadium and see that finish line on the 50 yard line and hear your name called out as a finisher and then get that finisher medal was the icing on the cake.


Can I tell you what the best part was though (besides finishing of course)?  I took a personal day on Monday and when I went back to school on Tuesday I took my medal with me so I could show it to the kids.  I decided to take their picture of them wearing the medal.  One of my sweet 4 year olds looked at me after I put it away and said, "Ms. Grandi, I am going to get me one of those medals." Me, "You are?" Her, "Yes, I am going to run a really long race when I get big so I can have one of those!"  Me, "I bet you will!"  and I gave her a high five.  Made all of the torture (ha), lack of training, pain, and tears worth it.  Even when I feel like I have failed because I didn't meet my goal- or I didn't do as well as I wanted- I haven't failed- not at all because in the end- maybe, just maybe, I have inspired someone to go out and be strong.




Oh, and my finish time- it was 3:04 on the dot.  Not as good as last year but many lessons learned…

6 comments:

Bill (cycleguy) said...

Didn't know about the heel pain. So proud of you finishing the race. Of course, while I was preaching mom was following you. :)

Tami Grandi said...

LOL- I figured she was :) Yeah- the heel pain keeps flaring up- hoping that the forced rest from the surgery will help with that

Unknown said...

I'm sorry to hear about the heel pain (mine still pops up from time to time and it's never a fun feeling), but you are amazing! You had a goal to finish strong and you did...nothing better than that :) And you're encouraging youngsters to start, too!! That's awesome!!

Brooke said...

congrats - nothing beats the feeling of knowing you've inspired someone.

Tami Grandi said...

Caitlin- I am afraid it's PF but who knows- and thanks!

Tami Grandi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.