Today was the 2ndAnnual Sista Strut Breast Cancer Awareness 3K walk in St. Louis. I participated in the Sista Strut last year . It was held in Forest Park, and started at the history museum. My Lawyer friend and my Paralegal friend joined me and thousands of other Black women bringing awareness to the terrible disease.
Too often my African-American culture does not focus on health and nutrition like it should. At most of the endurance events that I have participated in, there are very few people of color. However, today it was refreshing and encouraging to see so many women of every shape and size there to support the cause. The Sistas were so brave and strong. One woman proudly wore her bald head like a crown and another wore high heel shoes and ran the whole time. I was impressed by both of them! It was so good to see my girls since I don’t work with either of them anymore. After the walk, we went a community pampering event. They did blood pressure checks, had free massages, manicures, pedicures and facials. I even won free tickets to tomorrow’s Ram’s Football game. After that, I went to brunch with my Lawyer friend and several other ladies. I looked up the menu online the day before, so that I could be prepared. But, when we got there, the restaurant had amazing specials like rainbow sprinkle pancakes and cream cheese stuffed French toast. I opted for the Skinny Scramble, which had egg whites, fresh fruit and wheat toast. Although I really wanted the special stuff, I was able to still enjoy their company and the brunch experience without loading up on sugar and bad carbs. I’m still taking baby steps to get to my goal. After brunch I went to the nail shop and shopping with my Mom. Then, that evening my Big Little Sister invited me over for dinner. I could hear my niece screaming “Auntie! Auntie!” through the closed front door, and then she gave me an enthusiastic hug like I was a celebrity. There’s nothing like a 3 year old greeting you like she hasn’t seen you in a million years, when she totally saw you the night before… My Sister made chicken, eggplant parmesan and a corn medley. The eggplant was delicious, but my stomach didn’t like it. Unfortunately, that’s a veggie that I have to cross off the list. I think its the consistency and mushy texture. I’m weird like that…just like the Greek Yogurt. However, I enjoyed the chicken and corn while I played with my honey bunny.
OMG! Where do I begin? On Friday when I went to the Expo to pick up my race bib number a lady came up and started talking to me. We soon realized that we were both in Team in Training with LLS and we were both walking the half marathon. What a coincidence! We exchanged numbers and planned to hook up on race morning. Saturday evening I went to the carb-loaded inspiration dinner with all of the team members. Our team raised over $160,000 for cancer!!! Parents of first grader Hayley got up and told their story of how she went through chemo and how Team in Training helped make it so that her last chemo treatment was in March. She’s cancer free! (pic of Me and Coach Tina at the Dinner)
I went home less stressed than I felt all week and gathered up everything for race day. You guys saw the major list that I had to get ready. Once I had everything laid out I made a failed attempt to go to sleep.
You’ve heard me say over and over that I’m a night person. I paced around and finally got in the bed a little after 11 pm. I tossed and turned and tossed and turned. I was glad that the coach warned us that this was normal the day before a race. I don’t know what time I finally got to sleep.
At the inspiration dinner they said that they wanted the team to meet at 5:30 AM and walk to the starting line together so that there will be up “Sea of Purple Shirts.” I decided to be a team player and woke up a little bit before 5 AM. I forced myself to eat a muffin, as I had absolutely no appetite at that time of morning. Aside from avoiding alcohol, one of coach Tina’s final pieces of advice were to go to the bathroom before the race. Like “really go” like, number 2. I figured this would be no problem as I’m pretty regular (sorry probably too much information.) Anyway this morning my body was very confused, and had no clue how to function at 5 AM. I danced outside with Nyah I walked up and down the stairs nothing was making number two happen. I gave up and made it downtown around six o’clock, terrified that I would have to use the Porter potties. Luckily by the time I made to the host hotel my mind was awake and so was the rest of my body. Whew, thank God, porter potty avoided. I hooked up with the nice lady that I met the Expo via cell phone and we were off! Everything was groovy as I had driven the race path on Saturday after the dinner. That was until I tripped and fell over a pipe sticking up out of the street shortly before mile 2. I am “tangle-footed” as my Dad calls me, so I’ve learned not to fall on my face or my knees. I let my hands catch me, as my water bottle and new iPod went flying. Contrary to elementary school days all the other participants were genuinely concerned and helped me up. I was so worried about passing out and oddly enough falling had never occurred to me. About mile 4 I started to “feel it.” It was nearly 90 degrees already, nothing like my freezing cold training conditions for the last 4 months.
When we got to mile 6 most of the walkers and runners had passed us and there was a small group of us walking together. Two of the ladies dropped out. I couldn’t believe it; I was finishing this race, if I had to limp across the finish line. At about mile 7 or 8 my personal cheerleaders waved signs with my name. My Mama, my Big Little sister and Auntie’s baby girl cheered for my little walk group. My other Little sister promised the pastor she would be at church and she text me throughout the race. They gave us all a moral boost. However, around mile 9, it started to get kind of grimy. It seemed that we would never get to Mile 10. Then we ran into Coach Tina, she walked with us almost all the way to the finish line. Everytime we said something negative like my feet hurt or I don’t think I can do this, she gave us something positive to focus on. At one point we started naming body parts that didn’t hurt, like my ear or my walk buddy said her tongue LOL! Soon thereafter, the blazing sun heated my silver earring to the point that it burned my neck. Coach said it was so hot that they shut down the rest of the marathon race. My heart went out to those people that trained and weren’t allowed to finish their race. There were so many ambulances and I saw several hurt people on the ground. The heat was getting to everybody and really slowing me down.
Around Mile 11 I started to get pretty crabby. And I told the ladies I was walking with, “Nice Carli is gone and I’m warning you that I have a bad attitude.” Just like the guys that I date, I give you fair warning if I’m about to flip the switch, since that’s typically not my character. One lady cheered “way to go!” And I think I rolled my eyes at her as I envied her standing on the sidelines. My coach said I guess she didn’t get the attitude disclaimer. LOL! I kept looking at my biblical scripture temporarily tattooed on my wrist that read “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I said it about 1 million times in my head, when nothing Christ-like wanted to come out of my mouth. Finally, as we approached mile 12 “Not Forgotten” a gospel song came on that helped push me through. My feet hurt so bad, it was beyond hot, and I was exhausted, I didn’t know how I could go any further. And then almost miraculously I saw the finish line. I actually started to get a little emotional which is totally not my style. I started thinking about all of the encouraging comments on Facebook & my blog and all the people that I would inspire as Roni inspired me. I decided to suck it up because I didn’t want to do the “ugly cry” in my finish line photo, and I was wearing eye makeup. As I got close to the finish line I saw my Dad, I waved at him and decided to run it on in, I dug deep and gave it every tiny bit that I had left. I ran across the finish line pumping my fists in the air to “Eye of the Tiger” which was playing over the loudspeaker. My homeboy with the video camera was nowhere in sight. I could have strangled him. I was a little disoriented and the volunteers had to tell me to get my metal and get something to eat. I hobbled my way over to the Team in Training tent. They gave me my 13.1 mile pin and finally I sat down. I decided to put away the crabby witch and be nice to my Dad and my homeboy that were nice enough to stand in the heat until I finished nearly an hour past my projected time. It took me a while to get back to feeling quasi-normal. They drove me to my car and we all went to Red Lobster for a victory dinner. I ate as many cheddar bay biscuits as I wanted and didn’t care about WW points. I felt that that was okay since I walked for nearly 5 hours and burned over 2000 calories. Thank you family and Running into Shape supporters for believing in me. Now, since I almost fell asleep in the bath tub, I think calling it a night.
Yesterday on my lunch break I walked over to the hotel to pick up my race day shirt. It kind of hurt my feelings that the ladies extra-large size probably wouldn’t fit over my arm. I realize that I am “over blessed” in the chest but sometimes it’s still difficult to have to get the man sized shirt just to fit over my ginormous boobs. I was so confident right up to that point that she handed me the green runner’s shirt. I began to feel that little nervous lump swell my throat. It clicked in my head that I actually signed up for FIVE mile race. I called my little sister to make sure I would have some backup. She had my back as usual. We decided to have fun and went and got our nails done in funky colors.
Then we went to the beauty supply store because I wanted a pretty flower or something green to put in my hair. And then I saw it, the green hair weave! Somehow I managed to talk my little sister over the edge with me. We went over my Big Little sister’s house who happens to be a hairstylist and she added the green streaks of hair for us. Mardi the surprise dog is doing just fine in his new home. My sister told me the other day that when she awoke from her nap both of her babies who are being potty trained had pooped in the floor! What a mess! LOL!
This morning my Little Sister and I caught the Metrolink train downtown. I was a little worried that we had gone overboard with the green hair, but that was before I saw the green ballerina tutu’s, green leggings and green clover shaped antennas on people’s heads. We fit in perfectly. There was however this really strange guy on the train that kept telling my sister he would perform CPR on her. Still not sure why he thought that was necessary… You never know what you’re going to get on public transportation.
We got off at the Busch Stadium stop but we were both too scared to use the Porter potties, so we ran over to my job to use the nice indoor restroom. And who did we see on the elevator? None other than the partner of the law firm I work for! I’m sure he now wonders what sort of person I am on the weekend with green hair, green nails and lime green eye shadow. I wanted to tell him, really I bought all this stuff last night I don’t even own green accessories. He was pretty nice as usual and wished us luck on our run. Once we were back outside, I explained to my little sister that the serious competitive runners go first and then the walkers follow behind. She was so frustrated that we were walking. I kept trying to explain to her that I’ve only trained to walk, not run my half marathon. She still wanted to run, since“everybody else was.” We jogged for about half a mile before I ran out of gas. We may have done a few more quick spurts, but I am really not in shape for running. We walked the rest of the way. I kind of wish I hadn’t burnt myself out in the beginning so that I could of kept up a faster more steady pace throughout the entire race. There were so many fun characters to see, people in homemade go carts, newlyweds decked out in a wedding dress and a tuxedo followed by beer cans on strings tied around their waist. One group was even tied together and ran like one giant snake through the crowd. My pregnant co-worker had on a shirt that said “Does this Baby Make me look Fat?” Hilarious! We had a lot of fun.
Our green hair got a lot of attention and looks. By the time we got to the last mile I was pretty tired of walking. Finally we saw the finish line. My sister said there was no way that she would walk across the finish line so we picked up our pace and ran through with great pride as if we had run the entire five miles. One guy was so inspired that he ran with us. One of my fellow LLS Team in Training members took a great finish line picture of me and my sister. At first I didn’t like it because I looked fat. But then I realized maybe someone else can look at me and see themselves and say “if Carli can do it so can I.” My goals were to finish the entire race, not finish last, not pass out, and have fun. Mission accomplished.
Today’s race was quite the learning experience. I realized that I am not quite ready for my half marathon. I’ve been so busy most evenings this week working on a seemingly failing “investment” that I haven’t had time for nightly workouts. People have said to me you look hung over, you look tired, my mom nicely said maybe you should put on some eyeliner. I’ve talked to both my realtor and my accountant and it looks like I’m stuck with what I got so I am trying to work hard and make the best of it. I realized today, I was working hard on my investment at the expense of my training. I have to find the right balance. I guess I will have to try and squeeze in some morning workouts, and not stay up till midnight (or later) watching TV. B can’t feel as sluggish as I felt today during my real race. My sister and I planned out a tentative schedule where we should get in at least 5 workouts a week. All in all I realized that I’ve come a really long way. This time last year I would not have even considered even signing up for five mile race and now I’ve actually completed one!
Half marathon here I come!
Today was Awesome. Where do I begin? The alarm went off at 6 this morning, and unlike yesterday, I wasn’t able to go back to sleep after I hit snooze, because I was too excited. Once I got up, my stomach was a little upset, I wondered if it was nerves like before. I realized, I’m not nervous…so what’s wrong? Then I remembered it could be the late night ice cream coupled with me being lactose intolerant. Silly me. Anyway, last night, I had everything laid out from my socks to my iPod. So it was totally stress free getting ready.
Dont let the label fool you! It was just a 5K
I picked up my little sister and we got to the race about 40 minutes before the start time. After the star spangled banner, and right before time to take off running, she said, “I’ll start the race with you.” I thought that was so nice. However, when she said “start” she literally meant start. After about 30 seconds, that girl was gone! And after about five minutes all I could see was her hair blowing the spring breeze. I was doing a light jog, and I got to mile marker 1 in about 15 minutes. A lady came up from behind me and said you inspired me so much I had to catch up with you. That made me feel really good. They had small cup of water for us at the half way point. I drank it and continued to wogging (walking and jogging). I kept thinking this is so much easier than last year. It was still challenging, and my legs calves were burning, but it was do-able. Destiny’s Child’s song Survivor got me through the tough part. I kept pushing through, until I saw the 3 Mile marker. I panicked because I didn’t see the finish line…where is it? What happened? Did they move it? Why are we running past it? Then I remembered, Oh yeah…. a 5k is 3.1 Miles, I had to laugh out loud. Then I saw my Dad waving and cheering me on. The rest of my crew was at the finish line, screaming, Yay! Carli! This lady next to me said you sure have a lot of fans! I wanted to tell her I threatened all of them LOL! I crossed the finish line in 51 minutes. I shaved 4 minutes off my time from last year. My little sister was already on the other side cheering like she was just a fan and supporter. She had already finished the race in 38 minutes! I was so happy and proud of her. She might have left me behind, but that’s okay, because she gave that race all she had. The race people gave me my medal and we went to the refreshment stand. One lady gave me 2 bottles of water, I guess I looked thirsty. The other tried to hand me cookies. I politely declined the fudge striped deliciousness and got the pretzels. (I still can’t believe I actually gave up cookies.)… I love my family and friends, they’re the best! We got some great pics, and my Big Little sister got an awesome video of me crossing the finish line and Mom trying to pretend like she didn’t cry when my little sister crossed the finish line. Just when I thought the excitement was over, I noticed that there were still people crossing the finish line. I was inspired that they continued to walk and run past the 1 hr point and well after they took the time clock down. There were two ladies walking in green shirts. The one supporting the other had “NF” on her shirt. My sister explained that the other lady had a pic of the sign language hand symbols for NF. I asked what it stood for and her other friends said Neurofibromatosis, a nervous system disorder. They told me that the lady had recently lost her hearing due to tumors and set a goal to do a 5K. The lady was limping and clearly exhausted, but her friends cheered her on. When she crossed the finish line, everyone in the crowd cheered, you could feel her victory and she collapsed. I quickly passed that extra bottle of water over the fence. She didn’t pass out or anything, she was okay, just needed to rest after completing her journey. It was just a reminder that no matter how big your challenges are, you can overcome them and reach your goals….check out the my race day pics and my video (I didn’t realize I was so fluffy, heck I’d be inspired too if I saw me running LOL!) Now I just have to figure out what’s next.
Too often my African-American culture does not focus on health and nutrition like it should. At most of the endurance events that I have participated in, there are very few people of color. However, today it was refreshing and encouraging to see so many women of every shape and size there to support the cause. The Sistas were so brave and strong. One woman proudly wore her bald head like a crown and another wore high heel shoes and ran the whole time. I was impressed by both of them! It was so good to see my girls since I don’t work with either of them anymore. After the walk, we went a community pampering event. They did blood pressure checks, had free massages, manicures, pedicures and facials. I even won free tickets to tomorrow’s Ram’s Football game. After that, I went to brunch with my Lawyer friend and several other ladies. I looked up the menu online the day before, so that I could be prepared. But, when we got there, the restaurant had amazing specials like rainbow sprinkle pancakes and cream cheese stuffed French toast. I opted for the Skinny Scramble, which had egg whites, fresh fruit and wheat toast. Although I really wanted the special stuff, I was able to still enjoy their company and the brunch experience without loading up on sugar and bad carbs. I’m still taking baby steps to get to my goal. After brunch I went to the nail shop and shopping with my Mom. Then, that evening my Big Little Sister invited me over for dinner. I could hear my niece screaming “Auntie! Auntie!” through the closed front door, and then she gave me an enthusiastic hug like I was a celebrity. There’s nothing like a 3 year old greeting you like she hasn’t seen you in a million years, when she totally saw you the night before… My Sister made chicken, eggplant parmesan and a corn medley. The eggplant was delicious, but my stomach didn’t like it. Unfortunately, that’s a veggie that I have to cross off the list. I think its the consistency and mushy texture. I’m weird like that…just like the Greek Yogurt. However, I enjoyed the chicken and corn while I played with my honey bunny.
” a gospel song came on that helped push me through. My feet hurt so bad, it was beyond hot, and I was exhausted, I didn’t know how I could go any further. And then almost miraculously I saw the finish line. I actually started to get a little emotional which is totally not my style. I started thinking about all of the encouraging comments on Facebook & my blog and all the people that I would inspire as 
