The Race That Wasn't

This was supposed to be a post about the race. I was supposed to be telling you all about my running and how cold it was and what my finishing time was. There were supposed to be pictures of the race, of me celebrating with my friends and parents at the finish line.

But there are none of those things, because the race was cancelled.

No race day for me!

Friday night, Memphis experienced a rather spectacular - and much earlier than normal - ice storm. Around here we usually don't get that kind of weather until the end of January. Except this year. The roads never got that bad, but tree limbs were falling and lots of people were without power. So St. Jude cancelled the race.

Who let Grumpy Cat be in charge of the weather?

When I got the news, I was texting another friend who was also running the half marathon. We were shocked. We knew the weather was bad, but we never expected the race to get cancelled. Not with all the planning that went into it. Not with 20,000 runners from across the country and around the world already in Memphis. But there it was. First on the news, then on Facebook, then via text, then via email. The race was cancelled.

Well said, Charlie Brown

I WAS DEVASTATED. After all the work I put in, all those miles I didn't want to run but ran anyway, all that time. I was ready to finish the race and be done with running. My friend Ashley was also supposed to be running her first half marathon, and we pretty much spent all night Friday and most of the day Saturday moping about our houses, texting each other about how upset we were, and online shopping in our pajamas. (We were supposed to be studying for our finals on Tuesday.)

Me on Saturday

Of course, the most important thing is that the money the Heroes raised still goes to St. Jude, so they can continue doing what they do best - caring for children with cancer and researching new potential cures. St. Jude, being as great as they are, have done a wonderful job communicating with us about what our options are now. I chose to have my finisher's medal and gift bag donated to a family at St. Jude, because I don't deserve to have it since I didn't get to race. All of the runners have been given the option to transfer our registration to one of three other races benefiting St. Jude in the coming months. I put in to have mine transferred to the Nashville Country Music Marathon at the end of April. I should know by next week if I will be going. If that doesn't work out, Baylor has a half marathon in the spring and I will travel to Waco for that.

And so the training continues. As soon as I know which race I'll be running, I'll draw up a new training schedule. I don't want to keep running. I wanted to be done with this. But I've got to run SOMETHING so all this training didn't go to waste. Also so I can hang the 13.1 ornament I bought on my tree...next Christmas (sooooo sad).

Thank you to everyone who supported me in this crazy (and apparently never ending) endeavor! Thank you to everyone who donated to my Heroes fundraiser! 

You cannot simply finish a half marathon.