I began the year with a goal to accomplish and that was to run the marathon. I told myself last year when I was diagnose with cancer that I was going to run that marathon no matter what comes my way. It had been a goal of mine for years and I was too busy with life that I never acted on it.
I was scared because everything got in the way of me training specially doing the stem cell collection 4 weeks before the race had my body feeling pain on my joints. The week of the race I was able to do close to 2 hours of running. I was content with that.
The weekend of the Houston chevron full marathon my good friend Lauren and the her family came down from Atlanta to run the race with me. I love her for doing this race with me, both our first time. Lauren just had a baby back in August so it was going to be a challenge for the both of us. Excited and nervous, damn these mixed emotions we were feeling but we were determined , mind over matter was the key.
The day of the race we woke up early and got the crew ready. The crew being our husbands and babies. Two of my friends had also joined us that morning to the race. I made us breakfast but we were so nervous we couldn't eat the whole bagel. Lauren and I took off road the center to get ready for the race . My group of friends were already there getting ready. 1 out of the 6 of us had done the marathon before so we were all nervous.
We got into our section which was the last wave to be released and we took off. We tried to stay together to keep each other motivated but after the 8 mile we split apart. At 10 miles my feet began to go numb. I focused my mind on praying and enjoying the people in the side that would cheer us on. He weather was chill and at 11 miles it began to rain, yay just what I needed cold water. I put my shades on and kept running at a comfortable pace. I picked up every water they offered and kept moving. I would take my less than 1 minute walk every mile or so. At 15 miles I saw people huddled around and I past by I saw the medic giving cpr to a runner. Some stopped and prayed. I began to pray while trying to hold back some tears. This emotion came down on me hard I couldn't control it. I kept going wiping the tear off and I paid real close attention to my body. I was so close and I didn't want to go down like that. I kept praying for strength and endurance. The weather was chilling so it was hard to tell if you were fatigue, I caught myself hyperventilating twice so I would stop and calm down my breathing. I couldn't help to tear up because of how far I had gotten. I was so happy and thankful to my God for being with me in this journey. My faith was growing stronger and stronger each second. It just doesn't stop growing and that is when it hit me the love is forever growing.
Finishing the last 1/4 mile and seeing husband standing there with his sign for me and my baby Alejandra amp me up and closer to the finish line was my family with their matching shirts that we made for cancer awarness just cheering me on to finish strong and so I did. Took.the last pit of energy I had and sprint to the finish line. As soon as I stepped over the second count I teared up.. yes I was a big baby but thankfully I had my shades on so no one suspected a thing. .
Mission accomplished with God by my side. I ran for a reason and that was to proof that just because cancer enters our lives doesn't mean our world has to end. I am proof that with God by your side you will overcome any obstacles that come your way. Cancer has no power over us.
Thank you for being part of my Journey, God Bless. Yvette Norris
