I did it! I did it!

What a roller coaster the last almost-week has been! Last Wednesday, I woke up with so much back pain, I could hardly move when I tried to get out of bed. Whether I tried to twist or roll or shimmy out of bed, it felt like someone had my lower back in a death grip and they were ripping my muscles to shreds.

Or something.

It was no coincidence to me that this developed a few days before last weekend. Last weekend was full of all sorts of happy events - such as the 5K for which I'd been training and our church's 25th Anniversary Celebration - but these were also events that were stressing. me. out. big. time.

Like I said, no coincidence at all.

I persevered through my long work day on Wednesday, in pain but managing. I have a good chair at work and found that if I limited my movements, my back "grabbed" less. I figured the pain would lessen, eventually. When it got even worse by Thursday morning, I began to get more concerned.

I called a local chiropractor and they made time to see me that day. While waiting to go to that appointment, I got the news that we'd had some vandalism at the church - just in time for our big celebration, some jerk had broken one of our windows. More stress. More back pain. By the time I got in to the chiropractor that afternoon, I could hardly move.

He examined me, putting me through some painful tasks to see what was going on. In conversation with him, I said, "So...I've been training for this 5K that's coming up on Saturday. What do you think I should do?"

He looked at me with great sympathy because he could tell I had high hopes. He also looked at me with a look of: "Really? You can't even walk around my office today, and you want to walk 3.1 miles in two days?"

He advised against the 5K. And, later, as I lay face down on one of their tables with ice packs on my back, I began to cry as the reality of it set in. I was so. very. disappointed. As disappointed as I was, I kept telling myself that it wasn't worth risking further injury. At least I could still go to support my team, I reasoned.

The pain lessened on Friday. I iced my back some more and tried to rest it as much as I could. (This is not easy for someone who's using to picking up whatever she wants or moving things around at will.) I went and picked up our shirts and numbers and was introduced to a whole new cultural experience with that. And I began to have some hope for the 5K...

Sure enough, I woke up on Saturday morning, ready to go. My adrenaline was pumping, and I was doubly pumped by the cool weather that had moved in overnight. By 7:30 on Saturday morning, we were heading out into 60-degree weather - HALLELUJAH! - and I was excited.

Team Go Rev Go!

We drove to Ranger Stadium and I began to collect the team. What a collection we were: hubby, some parishioners, a seminary friend, and a friend from middle school that I hadn't seen in over 20 years (and her hubby). She and I share the loss of our mothers to ovarian cancer.

The crowd was amazing. Teal - the color of ovarian cancer awareness - was everywhere. I went to put up my mom's and my friend's names on the memory wall, and ended up putting them near my friend's picture of her mom. As I turned around after clipping my own names to the wall, I saw her eyes had tears in them, and we held each other and cried.

My loved ones.

And then came the walk. I was aware of my back, aware of needing to be careful, aware of a bit of pain, but mainly, I felt energized. I cranked up my playlist and went for it. And 57 minutes and change later, I crossed the finish line, finishing my longest duration walk with my best pace per mile yet. More importantly, I did it. 

After I finished, I marveled at the line of people coming in behind me. I told one of my team members that I was so certain I was close to the end. She looked at me, incredulous, pointing to the stream of folks still coming across the finish. "Yes, I know," I said, "But in gym class, I got used to coming in last."

"You're not coming in last anymore," was her response. And she was right. Not that the event was about winning, because it really wasn't. But there was something important to realizing that I wasn't going to let the kid who always - ALWAYS - finished last in gym class follow me around anymore. Sorry, kid - you've slowed me down for too long.

So, now what?

I'm eyeing other 5Ks, I'm happy to say, and so are other members of my team. This might actually turn into a way that our church engages the community, and a way for us to encourage one another in some really healthy habits of exercising regularly. Who knows? 

What I do know is this: I DID IT!