Blake and Juli

This post is a little late, but it’s better late than never.

Almost two week ago, I completed one of my life goals– running a marathon!  I’ve gotta say… the weekend at Disney with my mom, mother-in-law, and Blake was so memorable that I’m still replaying the moments in my head. I still laugh thinking about how insane it was to wake up at 3am to get to the starting line.  Did we really do that?? Not to mention, the sub-freezing  temperatures outside gave you even more reason to want to stay in bed.

Friday– Blake and I drove down to Orlando, and I attended a pasta dinner in Epcot with my team from Rally Foundation.  The dinner was provided for the runners who raised money in support of childhood cancer research.  It was awesome to meet some of the Rally kids and hear their stories of battling cancer.  Thanks to many of you who generously donated money, I was able to raise beyond my pledged amount of $600 and raised $661!  All of the runners combined raised more than $120,000!  93% of money raised will go directly to fund research projects around the country. To see some of the research projects Rally is currently funding go to: http://rallyfoundation.org/index.php/researchgrants.

After dinner, we were able to meet up with Casey, a good friend of ours, who lives only 45 minutes from where we were staying.  We know Casey from LPA, but we don’t get to see her often so it was fun to catch up and talk about life and God.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera with me at all on Friday, so the only pictures I have will remain in my head.

Saturday– Blake and I picked up our moms at the airport and the uncontrollable laughter began!  My mom had never been to Disney World, so we spent the day at Magic Kingdom acting like little kids.  The smartest thing we did all day was to rent a wheelchair for me, and I was pushed around the park to conserve energy for the race the next morning.  And geez, did I need that energy the next day!

My favorite memory at Magic Kingdom was riding Space Mountain, or should I say my mom’s reaction to riding Space Mountain.  For as long as I can remember, my mom has always been concerned about my neck. I think she has some imagined scenario in which I whip it the wrong way and injure myself. So we get on this ride, which is a roller coaster that goes pitch black and assimilates the experience of going through space (by the way, we gave my mom no details of what to expect).  I was sitting in front of her, and the ride began.  Did I mention she hates roller coasters? Not long into the ride, I notice a hand on top of my head grasping a fist full of my hair.  Meanwhile, my mom is screaming, “Juli!!! Your neck!!! Your neck, Juli!!!” and this hand is pulling my head (by means of my hair) against the back of the seat.  I could not stop laughing… I mean about-to-pee-myself-laughing.  My hair was a mess by the end of the ride, and I’m pretty sure my eyes were tear-filled from laughing.  For those of you who might be wondering, my neck was fine and I fit safely into the ride.  I definitely wouldn’t have been laughing if that was not the case.

We were all ready to crash by the end of the day, so we went to bed early to prepare for another busy day ahead of us.

my team before heading over to the starting line

Sunday– I don’t even want to pretend that our day started in the early morning.  No, our day started in the middle of the night.  The race started at 5:40am, but in order to get to the starting line on time we had to wake up at 3am and leave the hotel by 3:45am.  It. was. insane.

It was dark, cold, and wet as I made my way to the starting line.  They had music blasting to wake us up and everyone was running in place or forming huddles to keep warm.  The race began with FIREWORKS!!  Disney does it right

My goal for the race was to pace myself well enough that I could finish strong, run the entire distance and not walk, and to do it all under 5 hours.  My family held a Minnie Mouse balloon on the sidelines, so that I could spot them easily at 9 mile, 12.5 mile, and finish.  I give them props for standing in the cold, rushing from point-to-point to catch me, and doing all the aforementioned before the sun even came up I was feeling good all the way up to 15 miles, and then I felt my body tightening up and my lower back was mad at me.  I discovered Biofreeze to be my new best friend… I stopped at the medic tents 2-3 times to slather that stuff on my body until I went numb.  Note: running numb feels funny.

Sue & my mom on the sidelines trying to stay warm

handing off my outer shell at the 9-mile mark

At mile 21 my vision started to go.  I was told that running a marathon will bring you to the point of experiencing a whole new state of being.  Thankfully, I think the 5-6 sports gels I took down prevented me from experiencing anything worse than blurry vision. Mile 22 I got really excited, realizing I only had 4.2 miles left.  It was at this point that I started singing praise and spontaneously skipping.  The poor people around me must have thought I was crazy, but I couldn’t help myself– “Today! Today! I live for one thing– to give You praise in everything I do! Oh, my praise goes out to You!”

you can spot me in the middle, slightly to the left

Note to everyone: don’t ever congratulate someone who just ran a marathon, “Good job! You just ran 26 miles!”  It’s 26.2….. and that 0.2 matters!  I have never felt like two-tenths of a mile was so forever far away.  I could see the finish line, but it felt like one of those dreams where you are trying to run but feel stuck in place.  Nonetheless, I picked up my pace and made it across the finish line at 4:56:58, accomplishing my goal to finish under 5 hrs!!

coming into finish!!

Here are the stats and such for those interested:

-   I placed 272 out of 782 in my division (females 18-24) which is top 35%

-   I placed 7,308 out of 16,891 overall, which is top 43%

-   The distance that I ran was equivalent to an average size person running 39 miles (according to number of steps). This is because I take 1.5 steps more than the average person– for every 2 steps they take, I take 3.

-   Another way to look at it… if I were average size, the pace that I ran would be like an average size person running 7:33 min miles, which would be like running the marathon at 3:18:00

-   According to the Disability Program, I qualified for the Boston!!!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend and one I will never forget!  Thank you everyone who donated money to Rally Foundation, encouraged me throughout my training, and cheered me through to finish!

Yesterday, we celebrated our first anniversary as a married couple!  I find myself falling more and more in-love with him as time goes on, and I look forward to many more years to celebrate our life together.

Blake started his phase on GI this week, so he’s right back to studying. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the way med school works, the first 2 years are in the classroom where they learn all the insane detail of the body– embryology, biochem, histology, pharmacology, anatomy, etc.  The last 2 years, they enter the hospital and apply the knowledge they have acquired.  So after this GI phase, Blake only has two more phases (renal & endocrinology) before he’s in the hospital! In 5 months he will also be taking his Step 1 Exam, which is the first of many board exams he is required to pass.  Here we go!

I am now 4 days away from my marathon, and I’m both excited and nervous!  I went on a 20 mile run last week, and it was a little scary to realize that I would have to add on an extra 6.2 miles to what was already difficult. I’m sure that the pack of runners, my family, and the Disney environment will give me some additional energy though. I’m sure I’ll have more to say after the race

It’s been one of those days.  Every once in a while, I’ll have a day where I can’t get the faces of the orphans I’ve met out of my mind.  I wonder where they are now, what they look like, and what they’re doing.  Did Alya ever find her brothers? Are the twin sisters OK now that they’re 19 years old and on their own– did they find a home? Does Aleksej still have that contagious smile he’d flash at any stranger? Did Edgidijius get the glasses he needed? Was Virginijia able to find funds to provide vegetables for the children she housed in her group home?

I feel incapable of putting into words what exactly I’m feeling right now.  I wish so badly I could see their faces again and to hug them one more time.  I don’t know if I’ll ever find out where they are or how they’re doing, but on days like these I can only pray that the Lord continues to show His love for them.

There is much to celebrate from this past year:

-  Kick-starting marriage!

-  Getting new titles of “Aunt Juli” and “Uncle Blake” with the birth of our first nephew, James Montgomery

-  My youngest brother graduating high school and my parents are now entitled to act like childless newlyweds once again

-  Being asked to be Matron of Honor in one of my best friend’s wedding

I look back on this year and recognize the countless blessings we’ve been given and the way God is continually working in our lives.  Life with Blake is better than I could have imagined! With this year there have been many changes– moving to a new city, transferring schools and changing majors (for me), and trying to figure out married life. One of those changes was not by choice and it has been extremely difficult for me to go through, yet I remain hopeful and trust that there is some greater purpose in it all.  I can see that the difficult experience has made me a stronger person, and I hold tight to the verse from Prov 31:25- “she is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”