Saturday, May 10, 2008

Success

I have accomplished what I thought was impossible; the 10K Redberry Run. I did it in an hour and a half. It was much more difficult than my practise runs. I misjudged the distance when I was doing the practise runs, so the actual run was longer than I thought. When I was returning, I had passed the weir, and developed a cramp in my left calf. I was forced to walk for awhile, and shorten the running time. When I reached the 2.5 K point, I knew I had to push through it, because I wanted to run past the finish line, not walk. The moment I passed the Redberry flagposts, Brian grabbed me and held me up, as my leg buckled beneath me. Though I was in pain, I felt great! Now I'm suffering from allergies and post-run muscle soreness, and looking forward to breakfast in bed on Mother's Day.
I am grateful to Janet Harms-Masich and Ashlynn Harms, for also participating and contributing to my video. We were all running for the same reason: inspiration from Dwayne Harms. My apologies to Janet for referring to Dwayne as her former husband, when I should have said first (as Janet said). Ashlynn looks remarkably like her dad, but with her mother's grace (and speed!).
It was wonderful to have the support of so many friends and family, my husband most of all. He put up with my early,early morning runs on the treadmill (must have been hard to sleep with that going, he pledged a large amount for me, and he was there to see me start and finish; even though his back must have in a great deal of pain!
I think a long, hot bubble bath is well-deserved.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, fellow runner!
It was an honor to be part of your video. I'd love a copy of it, if possible. Why I'm saying 'if possible' I'm not sure. You're married to the techy wizard, after all!
No worries on the whole 'first' or 'former' reference. It's not really a big distinction. The children and I talked about that whole thing pretty early on. As you know, they call Stan, 'Dad'. They refer to Dwayne as 'my first Dad', as opposed to 'my real Dad' (which would imply that Stan is a 'fake' Dad).
Somehow 'former' to me leaves more possibility of divorce in the listener's mind...maybe that's not really the case, but I try to be very careful not to leave the impression that that is what happened. Sometimes I call Dwayne my 'late husband', although I'm not really fond of that term either. Often I just say, "my first husband, who passed away". At any rate, I'm not easily offended by word choices with regards to this. It's a bit of a minefield for people to navigate through, and I understand that. The truth is that I have been blessed to be loved by three men...my Dad who gave me my first name, Dwayne who gave me the name Harms, and Stan, who gave me the name Masich, and who loves the children (that bear their first Dad's name) as though they truly were his own.
Janet Harms Masich