Lez Keep It Real

You probably don’t remember that quote. I do. And every time I say it to myself, I laugh out loud.

It’s Forest Gump for cryin’ out loud. How can you not laugh?

Forrest Gump to unsuspecting woman on the park bench: From then on, everywhere I went … I WAS RUNNING!

Anyways …

I’m lying though because I wasn’t the one running, my girlfriend was. She decided to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) this past Sunday with my sister-in-law at the ING race in Atlanta, GA. That’s why you haven’t heard from me in a few days.

I was supposed to write a post to let you all know where I was going to be for the weekend, but I forgot. We left early Friday morning (and by early I mean our flight was at 7 a.m.) and Thursday night I had to pack and tie up some loose ends with some of my other writing gigs so it slipped my mind.

I got home yesterday and all I wanted to do was crash. It was a family trip, and family can be exhausting sometimes. All in all, I felt bad for my girlfriend. She ran 23 miles before she had to stop because of severe dehydration and heat exhaustion. After months of training she developed a chest cold about a week ago and just couldn’t shake it. Your body naturally loses fluids whenever you are sick so she started off a step behind. That kind of distance and physical strain caused her body to shut down.

Picture this. I’m standing at the finish line with her mother. I see my sister-in-law run by and I think that my girlfriend should be by any second now. And hour later and I knew something was wrong. Then my phone rang and it was an attendant from one of the medical tents along the route telling me they had taken my “friend” to the hospital. The hospital was six blocks away and I was in downtown Atlanta without a clue of how to get there. Thankfully, a nice young EMS guy gave her mother and I a ride to the hospital.

I felt two things when I saw my girlfriend laying in the emergency room. Panic and relief. I panicked once I saw her and I was relieved once they told me she was going to be fine. They loaded her up with fluids and blankets. I did my part by going to get her some ice cream from the cafeteria (hey, it’s what she asked for). Then she cried in disappointment and it broke my heart. Who could blame her? She made it 23 miles … 23. She only had three more to go. But still, it was quite the feat. Not many people can run a marathon, let alone 23 miles. Once she realized that, she felt better.

The best part for me was when they came into the room to complete the paperwork before she could be released. I guess when she came in she was so disoriented, she couldn’t do more than mutter her own name. They began to ask her the regular questions — her name, her address, her insurance carrier, blah, blah, blah. Then they asked her if she was single or married.

That’s when she lit up, grinned at the woman and said, “I’m engaged.”

She looked over at me and I smiled back. I knew then she was going to be just fine.

marathon, ING marathon, Atlanta GA, Forrest Gump