The Last Mile

Hola Mariana,

I am so happy that you are going home, and that we will see each other very soon! I wanted to share something with you, in English since my Spanish is still "mejorando" :), about what happened this past weekend.

Last Saturday Gabo and I drove to York, Maine to run two races. Gabo was running a 5K and I was running a half-marathon. This was an all-women half-marathon and, although I had done 4 others before, this was my first time running one without Gabo. I was very nervous!  

What I want to share with you is my experience during the last 1.1 miles (12 to 13.1) of this race. The last mile in races, long ones especially, is the most diffucult one. By the time you get to this mile you are exhausted, your legs get heavy, you run out of breath. It seems you have absolutely no energy to put one foot in front of the other and all you think about is how much you want to stop. So during the last mile of this half-marathon I started thinking about you. About how diffucult these last several months have been for you and how you didn't give up and kept pushing and fighting and trying. And thinking of you made me go faster, push harder and run through the pain.

I finished this race in 1 hour and 55 minutes, which was by far the fastest half-marathon I had ever run. And having you as an example was a big contribution to this "personal best". You cannot imagine how proud we are of you for going through your recovery with so much courage and such a positive attitude. You set an example for all of us, and I wanted to thank you for it.

Nos vemos muy pronto. Un abrazo enorme!
Olesya