Aid Sudan- Take 2

I didn’t want to post about this earlier because I thought if I did it would be a REAL commitment. I wanted to give myself a way out, in case I was going to quit. Last year Phil ran the Aid Sudan 5K sponsored by our church & I was so proud of him (I was probably the loudest cheerleader there). This past February they mentioned it again at church. Phil turned to me & said, “Would you like to run the race with me this year D?" I looked at him & smiled.

Me? Ha, I don’t run! He is so funny! What a jokester I married. Wait, was he really asking me seriously? Oh.....he was! Does he even know me? Oh no, he doesn’t even know me!

My smile quickly faded...to blank stare....to sheer terror.

Then he said, “I would be so proud of you if you ran it with me.”

Great, now I HAVE to run it.

Ok, so if I was going to run anything, I needed some serious training. But I figured if I posted about the training then I wouldn’t be able to use any excuses to back-out at the last minute. The blogosphere would hold me accountable. And for the record, I was looking for reasons to back out. Any number followed by a ‘k’ freaks me out, so my mindset going into this race was, “Darby, please don’t die. You’re way too young to die. You have so much to live for.” I had a nightmare about being trampled in the sea of perfectly trained runners. I had another reoccurring nightmare where the officials had to call for a giant crane to come peel me off the trail, pancake-style, with an enormous spatula. Needles to say I was scared! But, while I was scared, I was also secretly hoping that I might lose some l-b’s, so the training commenced.

Fast-forward to race-day. I was sooo scared. When the trigger was pulled on the start gun, I almost ran back to the car, but my body ran forward instead...and ran...and ran.....and ran.

I was so touched by the runners who finished before me, who instead of getting their awards or snacks or water or tons of victory pictures, returned to the sidelines to cheer on the rest of the racers (I admit I got a little teary eyed).

I realize that this race fell on the same day as the Monument 10K back home in VA. So I know I didn’t run as much as y’all did & I know a 5k is hardly anything, but for me, it was a huge feat. It was a big deal to me. Clearly I didn’t die & there were no giant spatulas called in for reinforcement. In fact, I finished 6 minutes under my goal- I will not share my time though, that falls under the Too Personal To Share category, like how much I weigh, my bra size, & how much money I make.....I’m just not sharing. All-in-all, this was a great experience; I feel like I would do it again next year. Maybe I will do it again BEFORE next year. I’m so grateful that Phil asked me to run with him; I’m so glad that he does in fact know me better than I know myself.

The runners at the starting line

And we’re off

This is about 2 miles in- I still had enough energy to give a thumbs up, though my thumbs are more sideways than up

I’m closing in on the finish line- I promise I didn’t run the entire race with my hands in the air.

I did it!