Tami's Perspective on the St. George Marathon 2011

More than just a Run

October 2010 I signed up for the Runner Series where I would run 2 small races to an automatic St. George Marathon run.  So in January 2011, I ran a 5k and in March ran the Spectrum 10k.

Having been recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, I entered this race more determined than any other race I had ever run! I wanted to run with the Fatsos and have fun, but the lack of preparation until just 3 weeks prior, made it perhaps one of my hardest. 

It was difficult recovering from my surgery in August.  I had been training for the race up until about May, but by the beginning of June it became apparent that all of my training was to no avail as I was diagnosed with cancer of the Appendix.  While this was hard to swallow, for some goofy reason, the thought of not being able to run my marathon was even harder to swallow. But I was more determined than ever when my surgeon said, “Well, you won’t be running any marathons this year”.

Looking back, there were several factors that motivated me to start and finish this race. 

One of my main inspirations was my daughter. When you have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, you have to take advantage of an opportunity.  One of those opportunities was presented to me by my daughter Cali when she suggested that we run the race together.  I could see and feel a determination, “Way down Deep” in her eyes and heart and I wasn’t going to let her down….....Now it was about us, not just me.

Another motivating factor took place the night we were having porch drink down at grandmas.  One or both of the Fatsos was wearing a shirt with the inscription, “LIVE like you BELIEVE”. I told them I loved the shirt and even more the verbiage and asked where I could get one.  Fatso said he had a few left from youth conference and so Alice and I went over to pick one up.  While there, I shared with Alice the heaviness that was in my heart and how sad I was that I couldn’t run this year with the Fatsos.  She shared a documentary about a boy who had lost his parents in a fire and although he survived, 75% of his body was severely burnt.  He went on to say, “I am not my body”- I said, “Yeah….I am not my body either!"  It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog…and I still had that internal determination.  Alice said, “Tami you could at least start the race and do the best you can, you don’t need to finish.” So with that, and the two new additions to the “Fatso Running club”, Alice and He Who Shall Not be Named, I had new found Hope.  I started sneaking out for my midnight 3 mile walk.  The next night a slow jog and I thought, “Hey maybe I really could still run this race.”

 Another inspirational piece took place at grandmas. Again while sharing with all, Fatso reminded me of the Las Vegas Ragnar. As a group we all rallied together, but when it was our turn to run, we were let out of the group vehicle and we were then on our own.  He then slapped the Ragnar band around my arm and said, “This is your leg”.  While I believe he was suggesting I take the necessary measures to heal, I interpreted that healing to be a mental healing. 

The race of life is much like a marathon.  I’ve heard it said that the race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running…Physical, Mental, Spiritual and it took all three components for me to begin, run and finish my race.  I was very aware of my physical limitations; No training, recovering from surgery to get my weight and strength back to normalcy, and then the lack of sleep from the Wonder of it all.

As I started up the hill, about four-five miles in, Alice came running from behind, asked where I was hurting and I said, “Everywhere”.  Drawing on the strength provided by the thoughts of knowing my daughter, friends, niece, and nephews were all ahead of me, I was able to hang on.  As I finally neared the finish, I was so inspired by those still cheering, us being the last dogs standing, or barely moving, on.  I just might have met my goal to cross the finish line under 6 hours if I had not taken the time to thank those who were still cheering, one who was crippled and sitting in a wheel-chair, and all the others who provided cold water, encouragement and assistance. But I also would have missed the part that made this race the most meaningful; I could not have finished alone.  And it was people like that who made people like me go on to cross the finish line. 

So to all of you …. I send a Great Big THANKS, from the bottom of my Heart ….I could not have done this without you and I Loved it!