Surprise yourself.

I just realized today after visiting my blog that I never wrote about the amazing half-marathon experience.  Life has been a whirlwind since then.  Forgive the delay.  It's been a while, but I remember  May 11, 2013 like it was yesterday.  It is a day I hope to never forget Inshallah.

I had an internal goal to run the race in 2 hours.  This was my secret from day one.  When I hurt my knee though, I felt that accomplishing this was impossible.  I accepted that I was being taught a lesson.  I always believed that with discipline and hard work, an athlete is able to train her body to accomplish what she strives for.  Suddenly being unable to train made me feel that perhaps I had lost sense of who is in control.  All ability comes from Him alone.  I felt that I needed this good reminder, and that it came to me in a beautiful way. I wasn't upset. I knew there would be another chance.

On race day, I was excited and nervous at the same time.  Imane picked me up with her sister.  In the car, I tried to set up the app on my phone that I had been using throughout the training period.  Every five minutes the app would report on how long and how fast I was running. For some 'unexplainable' reason, it refused to load. It had suddenly crashed - and there was no way to fix it. 

So...there I was at the race line with hundreds of other people.  Given that I had no timer, I just told myself to enjoy the experience.  "Run with a smile and heart open".  That's what I told myself.  I put on my favourite playlist and was ready to go.  Once the gun was shot, we all stormed forward. I edged to the front as fast as I could, weaving myself in between the other runners.  When I had reached a pace that I was comfortable at, I noticed that there was a man beside me.  He became my pacemaker for almost half the race - and I'm grateful that he was there to keep the momentum.  I lost him at a water stand somewhere at around the 10K point.  

It was beautiful. The weather was perfect.  Neither hot nor cold.  The scenery was amazing. Lush green trees and no cars in sight.  And, having all those runners around me was refreshing.  I ran and ran and enjoyed every moment.  Every time we came by a water stand, we were greeted with smiling faces and encouraging gestures.  It felt like luxury to be given water.  I would grab the cup, slow down a little, take a few sips, splash some on my face, and throw the cup to the side, knowing that someone was in charge of picking it up.  At one point I splashed a whole cup on my face only to realize that there wasn't water inside - it was Gatorade!!  (*note to self: check contents of cup first next race!*) 

Amazingly, my knee didn't hurt. I was waiting to feel the pain, but Alhamdulillah it didn't come. I didn't push myself either - for me, I just wanted to get to the end eventually.  Time didn't matter.

I had been running for a while, and was surprised to see the sign indicating that there was only 1K left. I wondered how long I had been going for - I had no idea.  The cheers got louder and I knew the finish line was coming up soon.  I could see the big timer but it was too far for me to read.  But then, at perhaps around 100 meters or so...I could actually read it.  I was shocked.  My jaw dropped.  It said 2 hours and 2 minutes.  "Impossible".  That's all I could think.  I  had reserve energy and I sprinted as fast as I could.  I felt like my legs were a mile ahead of my body...and a mile ahead of my mind too.  I had no idea where that burst of energy came from Subhanallah. The cheering onlookers were a huge boost.

Here is a picture of my medal.  

I still can't believe to this day how I was able to run the race at that speed.  And, as I finished I realized that the biggest lessons of all were in the end.  If He wills, it will be.  And truly, nothing is impossible.  We all have untapped inertia within us.  When we forget, or when we give up on it, we miss out on so much.  It was there all along.  Also, when we forget about the competition and run for ourselves...that's probably when the most amazing results emerge. 

Everything happens for a reason.  I feel that everything on the journey happened just the way it was supposed to.  From hurting my knee, to the app not working on race day.  As long as we never lose faith in the fact that the only limits are the ones in our own minds, we are bound to be surprised.  So - do it.  Surprise yourself.

As for those 2 minutes and 41 seconds over my initial 2 hour goal.  Stay tuned Inshallah.  From Him, one day it will be.