The long awaited race!

Hi Everyone,

Finally.....the race! The race that I am referring to is the very first Historical 1/2 Marathon in Fredericksburg, VA, that took place on Sunday, May 18. This was a very special race for me because it was in my hometown and I got to see the roads from a completely different perspective than when I used to drive them. Not to mention that some things do change after 30 years...yikes, did I say 30 years???

What a fantastic day! There were 6,000 runners signed up for the event. My friend, Jessica Cash (radio announcer for Fredericksburg's country station) invited me to join her team, Team WFLS who was sponsoring TAPS (The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc), which I did. I don't know if you've been keeping up with my previous blogs but my training consisted of a 6, 8, and 10 mile run in the past two weeks. I was a little apprehensive but thought what the heck....I've done stupider things in my life :-)

So a group of about 10 women and 1 guy (Peter) rode down together in 2 cars and made our way to the start line. Since we enlisted with Team WFLS, we were given numbers like "51" (that was my number)....if you know anything about racing, you'll know that 51 is usually given to someone that can run like the wind......not people like me.

I ran with 2 other women, Janet and Susan, who had a similar pace as mine. We laughed and cracked ourselves up the entire time…as well as others around us. No sense in taking yourself seriously if you aren't going to win the race....you know what I mean?

The course was beautiful! My parents, Eva and Les Cseke, were spectators and my biggest fans. They were in the parking lot at the church that they attend waiting for me to run by at around mile 3.5. I was jumping up and down beginning at about 50 feet before we got to them so that they could see me when I actually got to them. Of course, my friends were yelling their names so there was no way that they could have missed us. I think everyone running around us met my parents. I gave them each a nice sweaty hug and kept going.

Right before mile 10, I looked to my right and I must tell you the scenery on this course was breathtaking to say the least. And at this particular moment, I was looking at lush green grass, a rolling river, and a beautiful woman with long flowing hair that was playing a harp. I panicked for a moment and asked my friends if I was dead or if they too saw the angel. Thankfully, they saw her too. Interesting site on the side of a race.

Looking back on this, I wonder if they placed her intentionally to prepare us for what was coming because the hill between miles 10 and 11 was quite impressive to say the least. There was a marathon motivator on the sidelines yelling, "don't let the hill own you!" Well, I didn't but it came in a close 2nd. I found the key here was to not look up and keep counting to 10 over and over again until I got to the top. ...I'm just going to say that it's now 2 days later and my thighs are not very happy with me and I blame this hill.

Once we made it to the top, we only had 2 more miles to go and when we came close to the end, I actually sprinted the last few feet and finished in 2:15. Not too shabby! I can’t wait to do it again! So for all of you who say, "I could never do that!"....I say, "Yes you can! If I can do it, so can you!"

One little plug for Body Elements......for those of you who get massages after a race, you may want to consider Endermologie. Endermologie increases your circulation up to 400% which naturally heals your body 3 times faster than a traditional massage does. I received a treatment yesterday and felt quite remarkable afterwards. My thighs are still a little stiff but like I said..that hill was "quite impressive"!

Now I have to think of what I will do next......any ideas??

Eva