This has been a year of injuries. I’ve encountered silly little things like spraining my wrist to stubbing and breaking my toe. Because of that, I’ve had my share of being on the sidelines. But being on the sidelines doesn’t mean you can’t have fun!
Signing up for races
I had signed up to run in the Mardi Gras race, the Disney Princess Half and the NYC Half Marathon and had to cancel all of them as a result of injuries.
At the Disney Princess, I decided to go to the race anyway. My friends/running partners ran it. They left the hotel at 2:30 am to catch the bus to take them to the park. I left the hotel at 4 and didn’t get on a bus until after 5. By the time I reached the park, my injury was bothering me. So, I hobbled to the Race Retreat area. (We had purchased tickets for before and after the race.)
I was excited to see members of my team, kick butt on the course. One of my members had a PR by 8 minutes!
Cheering runners…
To me, sitting on the sidelines meant I had the opportunity to cheer people on and experience the other side of racing.
Being emotional…
For example, as I was standing on the sidelines waiting for Team Galloway LI to come in, a young woman, Cheri Srour, who was paralyzed from an autoimmune disorder, had been struggling to get her life back and the last .1 mile, she got out of her wheelchair and walked the remainder of the half marathon. I watched this and chanted with the crowd, “Cheri, Cheri, Cheri.” It was quite emotional.
I felt like I was going to cry as I saw some of the runners struggle. And, I did cry when my runners came in. I was choked up.
Sometimes things happen and when they do, you just got to take the bull by the horn, get out there and be selfless while others achieve their dreams! It really does feel good.