The Streets of San Francisco - My First Marathon - What's Next?

How do I begin to tell this story without making it a hundred pages long? I have so much to share and will try hard not to bore you.

A few days before it was time to leave for San Francisco my nerves were just about frayed. I felt badly for my poor dogs and friends. Not only was I going to run my first marathon but I was flying cross country to do so – to the west coast, the streets of San Francisco! A place I had never been.

After a long travel day we arrived at our hotel. It was probably the biggest hotel I personally had ever stayed at. The lobby was just filled with people. Many were wearing the orange bracelet which told us they were Team in Training members, too.

After check-in, Colleen, Kevin and I walked around the town. We saw our names on a huge wall at Nike Town, we picked up our race day packets and our bib numbers. Oh, my goodness, I was in awe. This is it, I thought, I'm going to run a marathon. I quietly mentioned to the kids, "Bill would have loved to see all of this." The energy surrounding us kept me from becoming too emotional at that point - a good thing!

Early Saturday morning I worked hard putting music on my IPhone (technical stuff - ugh). Some of you know that the Saturday before the event I found a music CD Bill had made and never showed me. The songs all have meaning to our lives then and my new life now. Many of them are good running songs. He knew I wanted to run. I remember the time in December he was in the back room working for days on DVDs and CDs; it must been then that this CD was made – just for this day.

The weather on Saturday was absolutely perfect. We had a wonderful time as we rode a real trolley car, walked around Fisherman's Wharf, saw hundreds of barking seals on rocks and viewed Alcatraz from across the water.

Saturday evening was the wonderful inspiration dinner that is posted below.

Sunday, October 18th, 3:30 a.m., I'm wide awake. I remembered the speaker the night before saying, "If you're awake, just lay there and rest,”. Umm…Okay! LOL 4:00 a.m., I'm up!

My running clothes, shoes and even the bandaids needed to protect my feet and toes had been set on the chair since Friday afternoon (see the picture below)

I am ready. I'm ready to run my first marathon. I spoke to Bill, “This is it, Buddy. I know you are here." And I felt like I could even hear his voice saying, “You look good,” as I kept fixing my hair, shirt, and bib number, over and over again. It was just like he used to say to me, I think just to make me stop moving around so much. My son-in-law, Kevin, came by to bring me a card just from him. We hugged and cried; it was a very special card and moment. Later Colleen handed me a note on a napkin as we lined up; we cried, too and I tucked the note in my little pouch on my side to keep it with me during my run.

Our Charleston team was downstairs along with many hundreds from their chapters. Then it was Team Photo time. And then, time to take that big first step, the one out the door to the street. We walked as a group and became part of the sea of people in Union Square, many thousands of which were wearing purple and green Team in Training colors like us.

We listened to the National Anthem. And then, time to run. But wait, we're not moving. It took nearly 30 minutes for us to cross our feet over the start line, (Which means that those I texted everyone about mine and Colleen's finish times were wrong. Official time haven’t been emailed yet but it looks like my time was somewhere in the 5:40/5:50 range and Col's in the 5 hour range!, I totally had brain meltdown.)

The energy around us was electrifying. By the time I got to mile five I asked Coach Barbara to hold my things so that I could remove my long sleeve shirt. I strapped my iPhone back on but didn't turn any music on yet, the noise around us from the cheers of bystanders was all we needed.

Have you ever seen the show from years ago called, The Streets of San Francisco? Well, the hills really are that big, I used to think it was all done with cameras. Ha. Wrong. I pretty much wasn't prepared for such hills. One of them was two miles long. For most of the first half of the run teammate Lauren and I paired up to encourage each other. Colleen was way ahead of me. I had told her not to hold back. After all, this was number five marathon for her and she was ready to beat her old time.

By about mile fifteen I was running with a group of teammates. I was the oldest, the mom. Although, those young people really took care of me.

We paced ourselves under the direction of Thomas. We had three men on our team. What troupers they were to run with all those women. I believe the average out of 20,000 runners was 10% men. Guess they enjoyed it :)

My back began to ache, right across the middle. It was strange to me. My back had not bothered me all summer. (After I got home I was told it most likely from going downhill.) My previous injuries didn't really affect me. I felt my toes burning and stopped once to be sure one of them hadn’t actually fallen off. It was still there and a blister was forming. I made a sock adjustment and didn't feel that pain anymore. I think I just became a little numb.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for running. The views from the tops of the hills were just amazing. To see the beauty God has given us from a different place was a little overwhelming. Goosebumps formed on my arms. "No,” I told myself, "do not cry. You need your energy.”

I did get a little emotional when Kristen and I saw the mile 21 sign. I thought from a distance it said 19 and just wanted to die.

Then Kristen said, "It's 21, not 19."

YAY! How long does it take to run just 5 miles?

“An hour,” she said.

We ate pretzels from bystanders, right out of the bag. Forget worrying about germs and all of the hands that were in that bag. Those pretzels were delicious and we needed them. I was so hungry.

You can't imagine the kind people along the way. "Go, South Carolina."

We would all yell, "Woo hoo! Yeh!"

There were DJ's set up along the course, playing music loudly. At one point that song, 'Tonight's Going To Be a Good Night' came on and we began to dance while running. Such fun.

Finally it was time to put my tunes on. I didn't wear headphones; I let the speaker work so that everyone around me could stay pumped up, too. I explained here and there about some of the songs playing and how Bill's special CD was a part of my running music.

Mile 24, Kristen was still with me. She wouldn't let me quit. My back was aching so badly at this point. We stopped and stretched.

I said, "I don't like this running game anymore." I reached back and patted Bill's picture and said, "come on, push me, please. I don't think I can run anymore.” My feet felt like bricks on the ends of wooden legs.

"How long does it take to run just 2 miles?" I asked.

"An hour" Kristen said. We laughed.

She grabbed my hand. With a huge smile and excitement she just kept saying, "We are going to do this, we are going to cross that finish line."

The finish line was in our view. I said, "Lets walk a little more then run over it."

"No, come on. " Kristen grabbed my hand again. We became quite emotional.

We did it!

We raised our arms and smiled with pride.

Coach Barbara, now my friend, was there, too. We hugged and cried.

I received my silver necklace from Tiffany & Co. given to me by a SF Fireman dressed in a tuxedo. Someone gave me a space blanket to wrap up in to keep warm because we were instantly freezing cold.

Then Colleen and Kevin came over to me and I lost it again. Everyone told me that Bill was so proud. I know he was smiling.

We sat down and ate the most delicious bag of chips. I even ate a little peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

I took off my purple TNT singlet, flipped it over to look at Bill's picture, I touched his face, said, “Thank you,” and cried very hard. That was the last of my marathon tears.

My story is not just about running my first marathon. Not only have I become part of an organization to make a huge difference in the lives of others, but I have taken giant leaps in the healing process of losing my husband and best friend.

I highly recommend anyone to run a marathon or a half or just be a part of it on the sidelines. You will, no doubt, like me, be on a high that you won't want to come down from. I have also made great new friends.

Many of you have been following a lot of my life stories. From the time I met Bill more than ten years ago, to my Diary of a Soldiers Mom when Kenny was in Iraq. You followed the story of hope during our challenge of Bill's diagnosis and then his death, my letters to heaven and my training experience to be capable of running 26.2 miles.

Now I wonder what plan is to unfold for me next. What does the future hold? We never know.

Live your life with hope, courage and love for another.
Keep your passion, it's what keeps us alive and well.

Thank you for helping me raise over fourteen million dollars from this past event.

Yes, I will run again. Yes, my body can go through the grueling training for a marathon. I can do anything I set my mind to. And so can you.

I do plan on paying more attention to volunteer efforts. My next run will be the Myrtle Beach half marathon. It, too, will be bitter sweet, as it's the time of year just before Bill went to the hospital for his last thirty days. I will be running with Wes (Bill's son and buddy), along with Colleen, Kevin, a former co-worker Tom from NJ, my friend Tammy, and hopefully more co-workers, as well as more Team in Training members/friends.

With Love & Gratitude for all my family, friends & my life,
Joanne/mom
PS Colleen told me that after a few big hills her knees were hurting so bad, she was afraid to stop and stretch for fear she wouldn't be able to start again. She said to Bill, "Mom doesn't need you right now, I do. My knees are hurting so badly and I don't know what to do." She closed her eyes for a few seconds, opened them and noticed a Stop sign in her view. She said, "Okay, I'll stop and stretch."