25 Down: Keep it moving

Back in April a friend coaxed me into running the Run to the Beat Half Marathon with her. We got to training but, as it was going to be my second half marathon I thought I'd like to beat my time of 3hrs 7mins. In order to achieve this I needed to strengthen my core...I attempted Ab Ripper X...and Gillian Michaels kettle bell workouts but I wasn't motivated enough to find time and do this in front of the TV...I thought yoga would definatly strengthen my core muscles. And this is one of the many reasons I took up Bikram. As time went by Bikram took centre stage in my life and my marathon training fell by the side of the road. As the date drew nearer my friend and another friend who had signed up started pestering me to run with them. I said I'd try get my training on and one Saturday morning in July I decided to go for a 30min run...it was shambles I almost died to say the least...I ran but I was so discouraged, so discouraged! There was no way I would be ready for this half marathon if I almost died running for 30mins...Needless to say my friends were disappointed and I even got cocky using excuses like "I'm tired of doing what other people want me to do. I have to look out for number 1! And Miss Number 1 wasn't going to be damaging herself to run a half marathon oh hell nah!!!"

I received my running gear from the organisers 2 weeks ago. The t-shirt was NICE!!! The crazy person in me said that I couldn't wear it in all honesty without completing the race. So if I didn't run I would never ever deserve to wear it. I folded it up and put it away. One day on the yoga mat I think it was 2 Thursdays ago (the Thursday I was off), a voice in me said "Nikki you are doing the half marathon even if it means you walk it from start to finish. And that was that."

This morning I woke up got my kit on, met up with my friend and her sister and lined up at the start line. I was so nervous I felt like I had a runny tummy, I was like "Lord  Father God why am I here? What foolishness is this...I listen to a voice on a yoga mat...smdh!!!" The plan was to run for a few miles eat a dextro energy tablet and keep it moving repeating the ritual. As soon as we crossed the start line my friends took off without so much as a backward glance. I knew this would happen even though I had been told otherwise. I knuckled down into the solitary journey of me pushing myself to take the extra step and keep on running shuffling. I got about half way through the 9th mile and decided I was going to walk...turns out my walk was faster than my shuffle hehe. But I needed to keep that running motion going...which I did. Along the way I met a lovely lady and we encouraged each other on. With about 2.5 miles to go her joints started to swell up, I really wanted to get a paramedic to look at her as she was just recovering from a cold and it looked serious. But she was adamant and said that she would get a paramedic once she crossed the finish line. What could one do? I thought to myself 'ok girl you do you... I got your back we're gonna finish this together.'  And the last few miles were absolute bliss, aside from the fact that I was scared she would pass out. The girl had so much fight and determination in her I was blessed to finish with her. We spurred each other on with 500m to go I was like "I can't run no more...Imma just walk across the finish line" she was like "COME ON NIKKI!!!" That was the shove I needed. We crossed the finish together!!!

I finished in 3hrs 18mins, 11mins longer than last time but I'm not beating myself up about it. All I know is that Bikram and the lovely lady definitely helped me cross the finish line. I mean at one point I did a body check and my heart wasn't pounding out of it's chest like the last time...my legs felt painful especially my bad knee but this only really hit me around mile 9 and 10. Mentally the determination I had was on point I knew I had to finish and finish I did. What Bikram and this current 60 day challenge has taught me is that I can do anything I put my mind to no matter how uncomfortable it is. The first step is just getting to the room or in this case the start line. The next step is taking it one posture at a time...so taking it one step at a time. And finally the last step is letting go of the previous posture as that is in the past and moving on to the next one. So basically just keep it moving!!!

As soon as we crossed the finish line. The lovely lady saw a paramedic. Thankfully she is fine. Her twitter post later referred to me as a pace-making angel. Which I think is so cool who would have thought someone would think of me as a pace maker let alone an angel.