Sharon's comeback has been nothing short of inspirational for anyone, not just moms. Her year has been mired with pitfalls and obstacles, and she's negotiated every barrier with grace, class and tenacity. It's been a challenging 12 months for the both of us, but Sharon has found a way to turn challenges into opportunities and made the most of her opportunity on May 4th.
I kid with her and say that she's had a "Rocky IV" training regimen. In Rocky IV, Rocky moves to Russia to train before he fights Ivan Drago. Drago has all the advanced technologies and equipment while Rocky has some rocks, an axe, a wooden carriage, and...well, that's about it. Despite his shortcomings, he finds a way to work. Sharon's had it tough training in Flint. That sentence by itself needs no explanation..."training in Flint" pretty much says it all. She runs by herself on most occasions. A couple of times each week, she gets a little help from our friends, namely her brother Bobby and friend Gary Brimmer. Gary oftentimes keeps her company once a week on those long, long runs.
In Palo Alto, Sharon woke up to another obstacle. She got moved from the fast heat (scheduled to go at 8:30 pm) to the slow heat (scheduled to go at 10:00). Since this was Sharon's only shot to qualify for the Trials, and the 10K is such a long race, she needed to be in the fast heat. After she made a few phone calls, I realized I was no good in the room and I decided to go to the track and maybe actually speak with someone as opposed to talking about speaking with someone. I found the meet director, dropped a few names, tried to make a friend, but he was irritated I had the audacity to make such a stupid request. Sharon hasn't run a 10K in 4 years, so she probably deserved to be in the slow heat. Anyways, long story short, every year there are 24 runners in the fast heat. This year, there was 25.
The conditions were perfect. The temp was mid 50s, slight breeze, fast, fast field of runners. Sharon was nervous. Gun goes off. She goes to work. Midway through the race, she was hanging towards the back of the pack but was still 15 seconds ahead of her target pace. I was impressed and worried. One, it was obvious that she was in a super fast race. Two, I didn't know if she could sustain that kind of clip. She held on and ran 32:49, which was an 8 second personal best time. Enjoy the video.
8 comments:
That was a great video!!! I can tell you all enjoyed your little "business" trip! Sharon, you never cease to amaze me!! Although, it is like I told you before you left, I knew you had it in you!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Love you!
Sharon you're the best! We know how much of a struggle it's been for you this year, but through it all you have been determined and committed! We've had a long cold winter and now this spring ou have come out like a beautiful flower! Congratualtions! Kevin you are such a wonderful husband and support for Sharon. Your comments and encouragement for her is so sweet! We love you both! The Q's
Hey awesome video--much better than watching other clips I have seen of your race b/c this one just had YOU in it! Looks like a fun time out in CA (but I don't like Kevin climbing down the cliff--I hope he has lots of life insurance with those daring antics)!
I am glad you PR'd and I can't wait to see how you will do at Trials!!
Sharon,
You know that I'm very proud of you. I knew you were capable of doing this back in Jan/Feb. I'm here to do more long, long, long, long runs and as many early morning runs you need to do.
GB
Wow watching the race gave me chill bumps! Yay Sharon! You are such a inspiration... working so hard and being such a good mom too. =) Best of luck and blessings to all 3 of you!
Love, Jamie (soon to be Ligon!)
You are rockin' Shar! I love the video too--good footage Kevin! I was laughing my butt off with those cliff scenes. :)
Duane and I are very proud of you Shar and are probably going to be in Eugene to watch you race! Sweet!
ang
You look great in that video! Thanks for being such an inspiration to us all, especially our kids. It has been good for Lachlan to watch first hand how hard work and dedication pays off in the end by watching his auntie accomplish the unthinkable. And I'm glad my girls have a female role model in the family to emulate 'cause their mama will never run fast!:) Kevin - I hope they don't try to follow their uncle's cliff hanging tricks - ahh!
your awesome sharon! we are all proud of you!
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