Support Crew Part 3

I'm strolling down memory lane tonight as I page through my iphoto albums on my mac reliving a few of the races I have done over the years and I came across several photos from 2 years ago when I was in the training cycle for the Inaugural OBX marathon I did in 2006.  That summer training was the best I can remember.  I did several races and did them well.  I PR'd the Fleetweek 1/2 marathon and I was well on my way to PR'ing the OBX Marathon.  I planned it up for a fun weekend racing and hanging out with my mom.....my best friend.....my biggest supporter and of course my hero.

I have never known a stronger and more courageous woman than my own mother.  I feel blessed to have been born to an intelligent, outgoing and amazing person.  If I have even inherited an ounce of her strength and compassion......I have been given an amazing gift.  I never can quite see the good in myself....let alone strength and courage so my only hope is that others see it.  I draw on the strength my mother has shown in all the years of her struggle raising me alone.....putting herself through school, managing a home.....and working full time all the while trying to make her own dreams come true.  I think that many of her dreams were never fulfilled because she was a single mother.

But she has always been there to help make my dreams come true.  I could not have pulled through some of my marathons and some of my endurance events (and most certainly college and my first job) if it had not been for the comfort and strength of my mother.  Of particular note IS the OBX marathon I did in 2006.  I had been beaten down by an unfamiliar course, a 5k off road section of the marathon, the bridge to Manteo and a Nor' Easter that blew in the day of the race.  It rained, it poured and the OLD MAN SNORED!  It was windy, rainy and chilly.  

I had been stressed out the entire weekend.  I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep......and I was again scared of failure.  But my mom rallied on.....encouraged me and reminded me of how many times I had already done a marathon.....how good my training was.....how it would all turn out ok as it always does.

And the weather beat me down.....mentally.....it took away all my hopes of a PR......and I was tired and sore....I battled nausea for entire 26 miles......and I was wet and all I wanted to do was go home.   I was just a few miles from the finish line and I just knew my mom wouldn't be at the end waiting for me.  The traffic to Manteo was a mess I thought for sure my mom would get caught in it.

I hobbled hard around the track for the last .2 of the 26.  My head was down in TOTAL despair....unlike any despair I had ever run through.  And I looked up.....and there she was.  My best friend and hero......cheering and yelling and whooping it up for me to get to the finish line.

I found the strength and finished and I was so happy and as always....my mom was there for me in one of my darkest hours.  This is what I looked like when I saw her in the cheering section....

Thanks MOM!!

My mom and I have been through it all together all of my life.  No one in my life has given me more hope, love, encouragement and strength then she has.  No one ever will.  Mother and daughter.....its been just the two of us against the world.  She has battled every battle with me. I have been blessed with the best mother a daughter could ever dream of........

Mother and Daughter enjoying the beach 40 years ago....

Mother and Daughter hiking in Alaska