Racing for Hope Journal Entry 10 – Marathon #2

So, it has been 2 weeks since marathon #2, and I’ve had some time to reflect on it. I need to be transparent. The couple of weeks leading up to this marathon, I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t want to run. I was feeling like it was a burden and adding stress on Mandy. We all know that stress isn’t good for a cancer patient and as important as it is to our family to raise awareness, it isn’t worth increasing Mandy’s chances of the cancer coming back. But we have had many discussions and are working on finding a balance with the right amount of training I need while being able to eliminate stress off of her.

On the day of the marathon, I woke up nice and early to a cold rain storm!! I was really stressing about this race specifically. This was the same race that I did for my first ever marathon and to say it didn’t go well would be an understatement. Mandy dropped me off at the start line, and I started to “warm up” until the race started. Like how all races start, we all go out fast, and then I try to hold on to that pace for as long as I can. The first time I did this race, I barely finished! I finished it in over 6 hours, so I was hoping to break 5 hours this time. When I got to mile 19, I hit that proverbial wall. I tried to run/walk for as long as I could but eventually it went to walk/run. At mile 23, I was still ahead of what I thought I would be so I called Mandy to make sure she was at the finish line. At that point,  I was cold and ready to go home after the final 5k of the race. I come up the final hill, and I was making the last turn when I saw Mandy with a sign for me. I’m honestly glad I couldn’t read it while I was running, but I got to read it after the finish. I finished in 4 hours and 36 mins (a small PR), and it was the 2nd PR of this 12 race journey! But that wasn’t the best part! Mandy’s sign said she got her results of her scans while I was running, and there were no signs of cancer!! (It showed the biloma is back but we can deal with that later.) I grabbed my wife and squeezed as hard as I could while I cried. I was so happy for her and our family. It just rejuvenated my why, and I was ready to run marathon #3 just 6 days later.