My Races for Jenny

As Jenny now knows (thelearnedfoot), a group of her friends, forumites, and complete strangers, decided to run for her.  I was one of the lucky ones to have participated in this endeavor and I am glad that I am able to talk about it after more than a month of secrecy, haha.

I ran many runs for Jenny.  Some alone:

and some with friends and fellow forumites:

I even asked a friend to create a headband for me to use during my Jenny races.  It turned out awesome!

But these two races were special, in the sense that I was doing them for Jenny.  She has inspired me to battle through my asthma attacks and my bad runs with asthma issues, and to push to do the best I can do under the circumstances.  So for that, I was going to run a marathon and a half marathon for Jenny.

A1A Ft. Lauderdale Marathon:

As you remember, I ran the A1A Ft. Lauderdale Marathon on 02/17 and here is the RR I wrote then:

http://www.runningahead.com/groups/BF_and_Beyond/forum/0a928d4b24044c60ba5947da28ac2ea7/0

But what Jenny didn't know was that I was doing the race with her, so the following parts of the RR were left for today:

So, knowing I might not be able to do the HM scheduled for 02/23 (I did it anyway), I decided to run the A1A Ft. Lauderdale Marathon for Jenny. The weather turned to freezing, so my original orange outfit was a no go, but I selected as much orange as I could. I took the sticker with me and wore my bracelet then head on to the race.

My plan was to run these miles with you. So every so often I would touch the bracelet and put the sticker out and run with it for a while. I tried to get it out whenever there was a photographer but I was unsuccessful in realizing the photographers were there until it was too late. But, you will see the bracelet on every picture.

As the miles went on, I ended up touching the bracelet every 1/2 or so and would talk to you for a bit. I have to say that you encouraged me through the worst of the wind and when my asthma appeared at Mile 25. I wanted to walk and relax my chest, but you told there was no stopping right now when I was so close to a PR. I felt you were with me those last two miles yelling at me to pull my shit together and finish. Even though I was getting slower because my asthma was increasing, I did. And I PRd!

I also put a sticker on my gear bag (picture somewhere below) and lots of people asked me what it was for. At least three of them said they were going to run some miles for you as soon as they recovered from the race. They do not know you, but they cared.

Thanks for carrying me through a tough windy race, Jenny!

West Palm Beach Half Marathon

The following weekend, I had the Sunshine State Race West Palm Beach Half Marathon.  I initially thought I wouldn't be able to do this race because the race was on a Saturday and there is usually no packet pickup on race day for HMs down here.  But this one had it, so I ended up going.

Since I woke up, I was not feeling good.  Little did I know that I was having the first symptoms of a major migraine.  I only knew that I was not my usual self and that my stomach was not very happy.

I got to WPB and do my packet pickup and ask a poor stranger to get my picture taken.  Orange was the name of the day:

The race didn't go the way I had planned.  After Mile 5, I had terrible nausea, cramps, etc.  Only Jenny got me through, oh I would've quit if it wasn't for you, Jenny!  I spent the next two days in bed with a huge migraine but the medal was all worth it.

So, today is Jenny's birthday and I wanted to show her how much me and hundreds of others care about her.  I wanted to tell her for months how inspiring she is, and how she got me through some bad asthma months, and how every time I struggle I think of her.  Or how I wear my bracelet every time I run even though it does not match, or of how I have her now permanently on my marathon gear bag:

So, happy birthday, Jenny.  Enjoy this wonderful day!