"Too late...to turn back now"

Well...we're less than a week away from the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon. Since January, well November really, I have spent every single weekend walking with my team mates (except for one day around Christmas) preparing for the big day, April 1.  I have logged miles and miles, told and heard countless stories and laughed more than I have in ages.

To be honest, I'm sad to see it end.

 Tonight our team met at Ye Olde Steakhouse in South Knoxville (Team Mate Hugh is the top chef there and boy, was that steak yummy). Tonight, we talked and reflected about the exciting (and hilarious) parts of our training, the things we've learned and what we're nervous or worried about as we inch closer to April 1.
I said this at the table and I'll write it now: I don't do anything unless I want to do it. Since November, I have not missed any of our Saturday morning walks/runs and none of our Thursday night strength trainings....and all of this is because of  each and every person (team mates and trainers) who has  have helped me come so far since that first day when we all met.
One person put it best tonight: It's been like a family.

Speaking of family, this has been an exciting week for me as I have learned that my cousin is flying in from San Antonio and she'll bring my grandmother to Knoxville to cheer me on race day. By doing this, coming to Knoxville from so far to encourage and cheer me on..means more than me than just about anything else in this world. This news was a particularly high point on a day where I hit some low points.
 Saturday was one of those oddly weird or weirdly odd days that you can't really explain except to say "You just had to be there and be glad you weren't." First-the storms. I don't really want to write about it except to say "man, that was a bad storm".
Oh and then the walk--well, it was 5 miles which is far less than it has been but far more interesting than it ever has been. I don't know if the written word could ever do justice to what happened but I'll try to explain from my point of view in my best-bad-author style of writing:

 It was a sunny day after a dark and stormy night. I had joined my team mates for a walk around Volunteer Landing in Knoxville.  As we walked towards a  bridge, none of us could have imagined what would happen next.
"Can you hold Zombie for me?" asked Darla, pointing to her dog. I nodded to assure her that I wouldn't mind.
 Suddenly, we heard a noise. Both of us  looked over our shoulders and saw a car coming from behind. There was a rattle and then a hum (wait, that's a U2 album)...but there was a rattle and then a hub cap fell off the wheel of the car. It hit the road and started rolling. Curious, I looked to see where the car was going and what the driver was doing. Stunned, I saw that he was unaware of losing his hub cap.
  Soon after, the hub cap kept rolling, and despite my thoughts that it would stop...it didn't. It didn't slow down, it got faster. Rolling towards the people ahead of me, there was only a few seconds to try and warn my team mates whose named had  escaped me. Darla, who had been watching along with me, shouted first and then I yelled.  I saw one of my team mates' cell phone go flying. Another stood there stunned. We rushed to them to see if they were okay. The hub cap had grazed her finger, and she was cut and bleeding. The other team mate narrowly escaped very serious injury. My team mate ended up needing stitches and I'm sure the other team mate needed a "nerve pill". Both were certainly counting their blessings that there weren't any very serious injuries.


 It was a very eventful walk to say the least. Each week, the team and I have talked about what we plan on doing after race day. Most of us would like to keep meeting up. I sincerely hope we do and that we can keep encouraging each other to another marathon in 2013. Time will tell if we do but my money and hopes are on the thought that we will continue, together.