Who would have thunk it....

So all of you( maybe 4 or 5) that keep up with my blog, were well aware of the trials and tribulations of my knee injury/infection. If you are reading this blog for the first time, and have no clue what I am talking about, scroll down, catch up and return here later...

So two weeks+ had passed since my last "real" run...The 16 miler that preceeded the Knee infection...2+ weeks later, and a total of 3 miles running and I was headed to Vancouver, Canada with the family for a weekend of fun, relaxation and maybe, just maybe being able to run part of the Half-Marathon I had signed up for months ago.

We headed up Friday night, and arrived in Vancouver around 9:00 p.m. The kids were spun up after a few pieces of licorice and would not go to sleep...Was this a sign of things to come...Only if your name is Camden Lee...


Saturday we awoke and if you were to ask Vanessa I was not the cheeriest Cheerio in the bowl. We headed to Stanley Park, the Aquarium and The Kids Market before heading out for dinner. Dinner to say the least was unenjoyable...Camden threw a fit beyond fits and I wolfed down my Pasta supper with the hopes that maybe, just maybe I could run in the morning. These thoughts of running are what made me un-fun...The wondering if I could or couldn't run...Would my knee hold up, my lungs, my legs...Who knew...3 miles in two weeks...It had been months since I had run that little...

So Sunday morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and prepared for the run...Nip Guards, Glide, Socks, Shoes, I-Pod, Running Briefs, the whole gammut...and for the first time since I have started running in races, walked to the starting line...The main reason of course for doing this was to help Vanessa. This way the kids could sleep in and they could catch up with me later at the finish...That is if I was so fortunate to indeed finish..

Our hotel was less than two miles from the hotel, so it was a really nice walk...The sunrise was beautiful and it was neat to walk beside other runners as we walked to the race. I wondered what kind of stories they had...What brought them here...Had they fought injuries...

This was my view on the way to the race...Beautiful.

This is where the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter games are taking place. On my route to the race.

People starting to line up for the race...15,000 strong...Yikes..

The starting line...

I got to the finish line a half hour before the race...I turned on the Garmin watch and made sure it was set for KM's instead of miles...The race was in Canada...Love the metric system...Did not realize how much till the race began...

As I started stretching, I could not help but wonder what was going to happen over the next two+ hours...Would I make it a mile, 2 miles...or would I just collapse...That was my biggest fear...

Oh..I must mention, the day before at the Expo, I came across the medals for the finishers...and without a doubt I thought they were the coolest I had seen thus far in my race career...

Then it happened...The race began....The beginning was slow...What do you expect when there are 15,000 runners. This was perfect..It forced me to slow down...As the KM's passed I had no concept of how many miles I was running...Really I had no clue...but it sure seemed like it was going fast...21.1 KM's....that is not so bad...


The legs felt great, the body felt great, and HOLY @#$% the knee felt great...and I should know..I was looking down at it every KM...was it swelling, was it going to explode...Hell I had no clue...

So the first 10 KM were pretty uneventful...Yep thats right the first 10KM...I could not believe it myself...Then came the 14 KM mark...After an 8 minute stop at the potty...I know how long, because I stopped my timer....At this time I text messaged Vanessa and my Lil Brother Tim...Told them I only had 7 KM to go...and at that time it dawned on me...You are going to do it you SOB....

and I did....The last 7 are a pretty big blur, but I hurt when it was all said and done...Not my knee, but the rest of me...The parts of you that hurt after running normally...Just now they felt worse because it had been 2 weeks...2 weeks...2 weeks...I could not believe it...I did it...
Coming down the home stretch...Yes I was hurting a tad bit.
A little bit of a smile...hahahaha.
Almost there...

My biggest fan....

After finishing, and getting my super bad ass medal...it dawned on me...Marathon 1 of the year on June 27th was now within reach...Hell yeah....Oh and my time was 2:22 without counting the potty break...2:31 counting it...and counting the first bathroom break, which I forgot to mention...oops...So that was an average of over 11 minute miles...Not great...but my goal was not to be Flash...my goal was to finish...Enjoy the pics...
The bad ass medal...