Day 15 - 10km or more?

This is one of my favourite pics of my mum taken by my dad.

I wanted to do a video blog today but my camera battery is dead! Ah well. I woke up this morning at 7:45, was out of bed at 7:55, and drove to Granville Island to meet the group at 8:30am. It was a tough morning. I worked late, was really tired, and just didn't want to get up. But I thought of all of those days when I worked on the ship and ran on Castaway Cay at 8:30am the morning after drinking in Nassau when the temperature was 100F, and thought...yes, I can do this.

When I arrived I was asked by one of the running mentors if i would mind speaking and sharing with the group why I was running, and hopefully inspire everyone. I was a little apprehensive about sharing knowing that I have been thinking about mum a lot lately, and thought I might get a little emotional. Then I realized that my inspiration could be inspirational to others, so I agreed to share. Again, it's been 12 years since mum passed away, but it's still just as emotional. I shared my story but I almost didn't make it through as I spoke through tears. I'm so glad that I shared. It was not only inspirational for others and gave them motivation to run this morning and to keep running, but gave me motivation as well. She's was with me every step of the way.

It was a 10km run, but I am positive that it was longer. There were all sorts of detours and we got lost a few times, so I think we ended up doing about 12-14km. My time was about an hour and 15 minutes. It was a great pace, and the concept of running for 10 minutes and then walking for 1 minute really helped keep me going. That one minute was my saviour!! The time seemed to really fly by, and I was able to carry conversation the entire time, which is my measurement of how well I am doing. It keeps my pace from becoming too manic, and keeps my mind off of my footfalls. I ran with two women - Betina and Michelle, and while Betina and I rambled away Michelle was there silently keeping pace for 75% of the time. I mention this until she joined me a week ago, Michelle had never been running! And here she was keeping pace with us, and completing her first 10km! I was pretty proud of her. It was so great to see. The team support has been great, and I feel as though we are all becoming a lot closer and the group itself is becoming more cohesive.

Yay for 10k!!