With the encouragement of the wonderful In Motion Fit coaches, and a lot of hard work, six months later I was standing on the starting line of the Carlsbad Marathon with thousands of other runners. Not only was this my first marathon, I had never even been to one. I was told to be prepared to “hit the wall,” and sure enough, at 20 miles I felt as if I could not continue. By no means could I go another 6.2 miles, I had nothing left. I said a prayer, asking God to carry me the rest of the way. At that same moment, out of the crowd of spectators, came my training coach, Stan. He ran with me in the remainder of the race, encouraging me all the way. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I was running for a higher cause.

That cause is the Bread of Life Rescue Mission in Oceanside. For the last four years, I have been a Board Member, and frequent volunteer at the Mission. On one particular night, as I was passing out blankets to our shelter guests, it came to me. I knew why I was “supposed” to run in the Carlsbad Marathon. I was supposed to raise money to buy cots for our guests to get them off the floor.

I proceeded to create a fundraising website and then sent an e-mail to my friends asking them to sponsor me in the race. They really came through! We raised almost $9,000 and were able to buy cots for all of our guests. They are no longer on the floor.

After the marathon, I continued to run with my group, and in April I entered the La Jolla Half Marathon. During the race, I ruptured a disk in my back that required surgery. While in the hospital, I contracted a staph infection. I had to go back to the operating room two additional times, and endure a lengthy recovery which included 12 weeks of continuous IV therapy. Due to the trauma to my spine, I was unable to walk, and had to train my legs to move again.

It was not until November that I recovered. I really missed my running partners and wanted to join them again. Slowly I started to walk with Stan’s walking group at the YMCA. In December, I joined my group again. All that time off affected me, and I had trouble keeping up with the group. With only 30 days left until race day, I knew I was not capable of running in the marathon. What about the half marathon? Is 30 days enough time to train to run the half? I hope so, because that is what I am doing. After all, if I am going to ask my friends to sponsor me again, I had better be in the race!