Well another Bristol Half and Half Marathon is history. It was a most beautiful day in more ways than one. The weather was excellent, and the enthusiasm of the runners and volunteers was contagious! Over 460 runners and 200 volunteers were involved in this race to support the American Cancer Society. Many cancer survivors ran or volunteered to make this such a success. A $60,000 check was presented to the American Cancer society from Russell Leonard, President and CEO of Electro-Mechanical Corporation, on behalf of all of the event sponsors and participants. A big thank you to Electro Mechanical Corporation for being the lead sponsor and driver behind such an awesome event!!
The energy in the air that morning was so exciting but I have to tell you a little runner’s secret. You might think that runners are most concerned about their pace, whether to wear pants or shorts, the music on their iPods, or getting ear buds that actually stay in their ears…. But no we are concerned about using the bathroom before the race!! Seriously, you runners know exactly what I am talking about, I could not even get near the bathrooms because everyone was taking their last potty break. I’m talking serious potty breaks HA! There is nothing more miserable than having to go to the bathroom in the middle of your race! Oh well you get my point and sorry to have veered off the subject. While I was trying to get to the bathroom, I saw a group of ladies that were so pumped to be there. They were encouraging one another so much. I wanted to know their story because each runner has a story of why they are giving up their Saturday morning (and much more time to train) to run a race. I found out that they were a group of ladies from the Bristol YWCA and one of them had contacted me several weeks ago to share their story. I want to share it with you. Here is their story.
Annette, Resa, Jennifer, Kristi, Laurie, and Lisa all began their journey last August 2014 at the VHS track training for a 5k. They started training with Andrea Rickard at the YWCA, Andrea had the following to say about this inspirational group. “When they started my class in August, they informed me that they were not runners and laughed when I gave them the goal of the Bristol Half and Half relay, but they pushed on. This has been an amazing journey watching these runners go further than they ever thought they could. Recently we had Monica join us at the YWCA and she completed her first half marathon at the Bristol half and half. When she found out we were training for the relay she decided to push it even further and complete the entire race!”
Aubree Cook, also mentioned that each of these women had their own obstacles to fight through during their training: one had a pretty serious injury, one made it through a run with the flu, one dealing with life changing job struggles, and one who had to deal with the loss of a family member!
They have toughed it out through almost anything you can think of…. When the weather got nasty, I remember us saying “we can do an indoor workout today” and they said “nope were going out!”
And aside from individual awesomeness, these seven ladies have grown to be not just workout partners, but family – always taking care of each other, providing gifts or encouragement, and never letting the others down.
What a wonderful story of encouragement and inspiration to us all.Ladies I take my hat (or running shoes) off to each of you and leave you with this…. Set new goals, Keep moving, Believe in yourself and most importantly share your story of success to help others.
Lord Willing, I will see you in 2016 at the Bristol Half and Half!
