When I joined TNT I could barely run a mile. Seriously, I struggled with a mile which was incredibly embarrassing for me. Here we are several months later and I have just finished my first half marathon. It was definitely not an easy journey for me but it was absolutely worth it.
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I traveled down to Virginia Beach so I could run the Yuengling Shamrock Half Marathon. Since this was my first endurance event, I didn’t know what to expect. The day and night before my half is kind of a blur. I was so nervous and excited that it all passed fairly quickly. I do know that I went to the Inspiration dinner which was as promised, inspirational. I ate dinner with the people that have become so dear to me and we heard a survivor’s story. His story was amazing. It was funny, moving, sad and uplifting all at once. I feel grateful that I was able to hear him speak and am so impressed that he was able to tell it so eloquently.
After the dinner there was much pacing and fretting before I finally fell asleep. Then, at 5:30 a.m. I got my wake up call (even though I was already wide awake in bed just waiting for it). I quickly threw on clothes, slathered on Body Glide, wrapped my toes and ran down to the lobby. There we were in all our purple glory. As a group, we began the walk to the start line. We dropped off our gear, used the port-o-potties and found our corrals. At this point I was just freaking out and laughing hysterically at everything, including when Barb started dancing to Britney Spears' "Womanizer." Finally, it was time to run. After about 50 feet I completely calmed down. It just felt like a normal Saturday morning run and I thanked my lucky stars. I realized that I could absolutely do this and just needed to enjoy myself.
And I did enjoy myself. I was able to run the entire race with my mentor, Ann-Marie. She took my mind off the fact that I was in the middle of running 13 miles which was so helpful. Along the way we had various TNT coaches jump in to see how we felt. I had one coach jump in around mile 3 to see how I was hanging. At that time I was still in great shape but jokingly told him to come back at mile 10. Much to my surprise right around mile 10 that same coach fell into a run beside me. It’s things like that which make me so happy my first endurance event was with an organization so committed to getting people across the finish line. With coaches like him and the other TNT Teammates that stand along and cheer you on, it would be pretty difficult to not make it.
A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I traveled down to Virginia Beach so I could run the Yuengling Shamrock Half Marathon. Since this was my first endurance event, I didn’t know what to expect. The day and night before my half is kind of a blur. I was so nervous and excited that it all passed fairly quickly. I do know that I went to the Inspiration dinner which was as promised, inspirational. I ate dinner with the people that have become so dear to me and we heard a survivor’s story. His story was amazing. It was funny, moving, sad and uplifting all at once. I feel grateful that I was able to hear him speak and am so impressed that he was able to tell it so eloquently.
After the dinner there was much pacing and fretting before I finally fell asleep. Then, at 5:30 a.m. I got my wake up call (even though I was already wide awake in bed just waiting for it). I quickly threw on clothes, slathered on Body Glide, wrapped my toes and ran down to the lobby. There we were in all our purple glory. As a group, we began the walk to the start line. We dropped off our gear, used the port-o-potties and found our corrals. At this point I was just freaking out and laughing hysterically at everything, including when Barb started dancing to Britney Spears' "Womanizer." Finally, it was time to run. After about 50 feet I completely calmed down. It just felt like a normal Saturday morning run and I thanked my lucky stars. I realized that I could absolutely do this and just needed to enjoy myself.
And I did enjoy myself. I was able to run the entire race with my mentor, Ann-Marie. She took my mind off the fact that I was in the middle of running 13 miles which was so helpful. Along the way we had various TNT coaches jump in to see how we felt. I had one coach jump in around mile 3 to see how I was hanging. At that time I was still in great shape but jokingly told him to come back at mile 10. Much to my surprise right around mile 10 that same coach fell into a run beside me. It’s things like that which make me so happy my first endurance event was with an organization so committed to getting people across the finish line. With coaches like him and the other TNT Teammates that stand along and cheer you on, it would be pretty difficult to not make it.
Miles 10-12 were tough. I was ready to be done and just wanted to cross that finish line. With help from my mentor and spectators yelling my name (thanks to duct tape and a sharpie) I just dug deep and kept going. Finally we hit the last mile. We were being cheered on, music was blaring and soon we rounded the corner to the boardwalk. The finish line was in my sights. Slowly but surely we gained ground and the finish was getting closer. I did remark at one point that it didn’t appear to be getting any closer, however Ann-Marie assured me it was. Just before finishing I saw my boyfriend, Nathan, and a large group of friends standing to the side screaming my name and cheering for me. Right after waving at them I crossed the finish line. I was absolutely exhausted but had a gigantic smile and was ecstatic. We walked along grabbing bananas, granola, shirts and anything else being shoved our way. After checking in at the TNT tent I made my way to Nathan and friends.
This is where I got the most incredible surprise. As I walked up to my “posse” I saw that they were all facing opposite me. All at the same time they turned around to face me and each had on a green shirt saying a different word. Together, the words spelled out “Tina will you marry me?” and Nathan got down on one knee. I made an audible gasp and burst into tears. Finally I squeaked out a yes and there was clapping/smiling from surrounding people. After much hugging and photo taking we started walking back to the hotel. I loved this part because my friends left on the shirts and people kept yelling out “What did she say?!?!”
Looking back, this was the best weekend I’ve ever had. I was able to accomplish a goal for myself and had the most romantic and creative proposal. Nathan was so supportive of me during my training and fundraising and I’m happy the weekend ended up being about both of us. I can’t wait for my next race, I’m looking forward to how he’ll top the proposal!
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