Rolling Over Fear

You might remember a couple of months ago I wrote about the Bellas (my Bible Study/prayer group) and I running in the Color Run 5k. We had a blast! And a couple months back my sister, dad, 2 Bellas and I ran did the Electric Run 5k which wasn't such a great experience but I'll tell you more about that in a bit. Actually maybe I need to tell you about that first!

My sister and our friend Morgane have made it their mission for 2013 to run at least one 5k a month. So a couple of months ago they were talking about the Electric Run. This 5k is a night race and basically the only light that you have guiding you is the glow sticks that you are wearing! Now there are little stops along the way with glow in the dark stations for you to take pictures at but along the trail it's just the lights that you're wearing (we didn't know this yet but thinking there would be some kind of lights through the path). I'm thinking wow that sounds like fun, I'm in too! And I'm not really sure how we roped Dad into doing it with us but he was a good sport and did. Plus our friend Blair (a fellow Bella) was all in for the fun too! So we get to the race and it's a dark and rainy GA night. The run was at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (which is where the Color Run was so we are thinking we had already done this course so we kind of know what we are doing). And this right here is where we should have stopped assuming things. The course was actually a different route and where we thought the 1/4 mile of gravel that we struggled in before was bad this time it was over a mile. Luckily I had my crutches but I had to hike it over a mile while my sister carried my wheelchair through the rocky terrain. Oh and this is also where the arm of the wheel chair feel off and I told my sister to keep going I got it but when I bent down to pick it up and since it was pitch black dark out I tripped some girl with my crutch!!! Yep that happened. So we are about half way in and the rain is getting heavier and heavier but this is where we got to run on the actual track at the Speedway which was kind of cool. I had my phone out taking pictures as we trotted along. Coming off the track you head down the breezeways where the cars would come in for a race. So we are running along in the dark and all of the sudden my front wheels hit and get stuck a rain gutter and sends me flying through the air on to the pavement, the chair flips over and Alex is dumped on top. Not expecting the fall I tried to catch myself while holding on to my crutches and phone. And this is when I thought I broke my wrist!! It hurt so bad but all of these people started grabbing me trying to get me back up and make sure that I was okay and that's when I realized I had just shattered my phone (the second shattered screen in like 2 months). Alex and I tried to get ourselves back together and once we were okay I told her to just start running again and reassured her I was fine. So we are back on track running and in 100 feet it happened all over again!!! Seriously you can't make this stuff up! And this time I REALLY thought I had broken my wrist. Once we were gathered back up again I didn't want to be in the chair anymore so I walked part of the way but my wrist was hurting so bad I got back in the chair and we just walked the rest of the way. At the end of the race we all made a pact, we were happy that we did it and had the experience but we will NEVER do another night race again! And don't worry my wrist wasn't broken I couldn't really move it that night but the next day it was all good!

So I told you that whole story just to tell you Alex, Morgane, Lauren (another Bella) and I ran/rolled in another 5k this past weekend! Yaaaaaay us!! This race was a local one called the Fuzz Run! This was the second time I had been in a chair since being dumped out. The first was my family trip to Chicago and honestly I was a nervous wreck the entire time. But this was my first race since the Electric Run so I was a little nervous! And there were SOOO many people there so when Alex was trying to weave in and out of the herd of people I would freak out a little inside. I think we were both a little nervous. She doesn't want me to get dumped out (she felt so guilty for what happened at the Electric Run) and I for sure don't want to get thrown out; so finally Alex said you know what we are just going to walk this one. So we stayed back with our two friends that we went with and just chatted and strolled along and it was lovely! Plus after the race we found some other Bellas that happened to be there too! And congrats to Bella Casey for coming in 3rd place in her age divison!! Whoop Whoop, that's our girl!!!

Now I can't say that we will stroll along at the next one. Our competitive nature is going to kick in at some point and we'll be back running in no time. And even though I could have just said you know what after getting dumped out of my chair and thinking that I broke a body part I could have said nah 5K's aren't for me yall just go ahead, I didn't. I faced the fear and got back in the chair. When you fall you can't simply give up because of the fear of falling again, you gotta get up and try try again. You may become a little bruised and battered along the way. But I look at those as war wounds and everyone one of them has a story of how they have made me a stronger person. I Iike to wear them proudly.