It was March 11th. I was in week 4 of my
Brooklyn Half Marathon training and I remember sitting at my desk and my left
leg was completely numb from the knee down. You know, the tingling feeling you
get when your foot goes to sleep only this time, it was painful…really painful.
I had to make an emergency appointment with a physical therapist. After several
tests, it was determined that I had a bulging disk in my lower back that hit a
nerve that was connected to my leg. I
could barely walk at the time but I had high hopes that I would be able to
overcome my injury and be able to complete the half in May.
Then April came and I still wasn't cleared to run long
distances. I was devastated. This is
something that I really wanted to do for myself. I wanted to run these miles to
prove that I could accomplish a really lofty goal. But I wasn't willing to run
the risk of further injury so I told myself that I would sign up for another
race next year.
After several months of physical therapy and 3 months of
intensive working out Tapout XT style, I finally felt ready to really get back
to running again. My sister Leslie was
training for a 15K that she was running to celebrate her 33rd
birthday so we created a 50 mile challenge on Facebook for the month of
September. This seemed like a really big
goal to me since I hadn't really run that many miles ever…but I did it! And for
the month of October we upped the ante to 55 miles! I was ready!
I happened to be scrolling through the Black Girls RUN!
NYC page and saw that there was a national meet up race happening in Trenton,
New Jersey in November. I said to myself, I can do that and not only make my
goal but support my sister by running a race for her birthday virtually. She
lives in Chicago and I’m in New York and couldn't make her race because one of
my friends was running the ING NYC Marathon.
So I signed up!
When the race day came, I felt prepared. I had done my
last long run the Saturday before…11 miles! It was hard but I got them done and
knew I could conquer 13.1 miles.
I am blessed to be part of the NYC Chapter of Black Girls
RUN! because we have some awesome individuals who will motivate you til the
end! One of the BGR! ambassadors paced me through the entire race to make sure
I made my goal. The first 8 miles were pretty
good but after that it was all downhill (really uphill because there were so
many HILLS!!!) I thought I was not going to make it. The mile markers were off,
I was tired of climbing those rolling hills and my calf started hurting but I
didn't give up. My God-sent ambassador,
Nykia, was there for me every single step of the way. I am so thankful for her and another one of
my BGR! sole sistas Tsitsi because if it were not for them, I wouldn't have made
it.
.JPG) |
| Nykia and I when we first started! |
After 13.1 miles, a lot of sweat and a few really bad
4-letter words, I made it! I crossed the finish line!!! It was an exhilarating
feeling!!!! I truly believe this was supposed to be my first half marathon and
not Brooklyn. I was surrounded by 700+ other beautiful women of Black Girls
RUN! and not only did we receive one medal, but we got two!!!
.JPG) |
| This isn't even half of the BGR! women who were at the race! |
 |
| We did it! |
What’s the moral of this story? Never give up! Keep
striving towards your goals. Even if you
hit a major speed bump like I did, don’t give up! Your blessing is right around
the corner if you keep going after it!
.JPG) |
| Sexy Preserved... |
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
