A day for the books

The Helvetia Half Marathon Chicks ~ Lindsey, Krista, Annette and Moi

Six months or so again I got this great idea to meet up with some college friends and do the Helvetia Half Marathon in Hillsboro / Helvetia, Oregon. I coerced my Freshman dorm mates, Lindsey and Annette to sign up and they recruited another sucker, Krista. Having an end "goal" would make the motivation to do regular training workouts a cinch, right? WRONG! No sooner did I click the "sign up now" button on the Run With Paula website did I find myself whining to my doctor that I was soooo tired and achy and didn't feel like myself. An exam and blood work confirmed that I was having a flare up Epstein Barr (aka "MONO") and an enlarged spleen meant no exercising and taking it easy for a few weeks. Doctors orders. The weeks of rest came and went and I was "cleared" to resume all activity. So you know that I trotted right from that appointment to the treadmill right?

Um.

No.

A big fat hell-to-the NO!

But you know that I got serious about working out eventually, knowing that I had signed up and committed to doing 13.1 miles with the girls. I couldn't let them down. I couldn't actually live up to the slacker lazy bum title could I?

Um.

Yeah.

Pretty much. June rolled around and I accepted the fact that I'd better bring my insurance card to the half marathon. Just in case. I might need it. And could give it to the paramedics should a detour to the St. Vincent's ER be required.

So I showed up to the race with bells on. 5:15AM came way too early and while the other girls were drinking their tall soy lattes with an extra shot, I was munching on my rice crispy treat, cheerios and raisins. I donned my "JUST DO IT," shirt ~ an ever present reminder that sometimes, by golly, you've gotta just get 'er done!

Meet Annette. She was a charter member of what we affectionately named FFFF: Four Finley Freshman Friends. We were in the same major, lived on the same floor of the "athlete" dorm (ironic considering I was anything BUT an athlete... I did hear mention of cute football players...) and later pledged the same sorority. She's a mama now ~ married her high school sweetheart and has 2 beautiful babes. She's in shape.

The three amigas.

Poor Lindsey has been suffering from mega back issues... and... against medical advice went through with today's festivities. Bless her heart. I would have gladly bailed if someone (anyone) gave me any legitimate reason to be sedentary. But Lindsey? She's dedicated! And in shape too.

It was right about now... at the start line when I started to actually face reality. 13.1 miles and six months of being a training drop out. And the jumbo rice crispy treat wasn't helping matters either. The next few hours weren't looking so pretty.


It didn't take long for my *friends* to leave me in the dust. Sure they turned around to check on me every now and then... but I encouraged them to "go ahead and go on" (but didn't really mean it! Surely if they were my (real) friends they would see through my politeness and stick around. Seriously! I could collapse at any minute!) They went on. They left me. And it wasn't long before I lost site of them. I did keep turning around to make sure that there were still folks behind me. I took some sick satisfaction in knowing that I may be s-l-o-w but not the slowest!

Since I was solo I didn't mind making several pit stops. I told myself it was to capture the serene beauty in my midst... even if it really was to literally catch my breath.

I even stopped to say a prayer. To St. Jude. The patron Saint of lost and hopeless causes. I needed ALL of the help that I could get.

The glorious half way point. It was at this point that I wanted to shoot myself. Seriously. Having four half marathons under my belt did nothing for my psyche. Nor did the extra *% poundage. And the bloody hills? Nobody mentioned the hills.

You betcha I stopped at every water station.

Just before mile 10 I took a shot of some "electrolyte sports drink." I thought the boost would do a body good. My hands began to shake. My brow began to drip with sweat and my stomach was cramping and I felt like I was going to hurl. And I did. Repeatedly. Right in front of the First Aid station. There was nothing discrete about it. Leave it to me.

"Um, ma'am it's not a good idea for you to finish the race. You're going to get dehydrated and we can't let you go on. I'm very sorry."

I didn't protest. Not even a little. I hopped into that First Aid vehicle lickety split!

I met my comrades at the finish line. You should have seen their confused faces? How in the world did the caboose finish in front of them?

I caved and told them the truth. As much as it hurt my e-g-o. I had already eaten my (first) complimentary Helvetia Tavern Hamburger (with the secret special sauce). It's Portland's answer to In-n-Out Burger. Not quite. But a B+ for effort.

Burgers and beer. We're (all) wearing our medals. Some of us actually finished and "others"...well... they didn't have any "almost finished" medals. Humor me.

No rest for the weary. My best High School girls, Tirza and Olivia picked me up in Portland and we headed back to have a slumber party at Tirza's in Silverton.

We met up with Heather, another Sisters High School alumna, and one of my sorority sisters, Tenille, for dinner.

McMenamin's Brewery in Salem

Tenille and I

We spent over 3 hours catching up. Heather had (selective) amnesia / long term memory loss and struggled to remember much of anybody or anything from our High School days. But fear not! I was there to save the night with my photographic memory. I sang lyrics from our musicals, remembered who dated who, recounted the scandals. We had many laughs reminiscing. Facebook has helped to fill in a lot of details and I personally like keeping in touch with friends!

Heather is embarking on a huge journey with her family. I can't wait to follow where God leads them!

Gabbing the night away...

And this is how a girl ends a fun and hard day. A bubble bath and prayerful meditation. (Photo courtesy of Tirza ~ who interrupted my solitude to capture the moment!)

This day will be hard to top! I am so grateful for the opportunity to travel, be with friends and share life with some incredible women. Cheers to all of you!