Yesterday morning, when my alarm went off at 1:45 am, I had no time to even consider staying in bed a little longer, I had to be in the car in half an hour. I had left everything ready the night before, team shirt, sports bra, shorts and shoes were all hanging right by the bathroom door, running shoes on the floor and everything else I would need before, during and after the race was packed and ready to go. 

I quickly made myself (air fried) a quick breakfast to go and headed out. I was a little surprised at how efficient I was that early, but it was a big race, my longest one yet.

This was Las 16 Millas de Sabrina and this year I was running the full 16 miles. I didn’t feel as nervous as I thought maybe I should have been, this was three more miles than my longest race, the half-marathon. I had done everything my coach told me to do to prepare and he hadn’t expressed any concerns, so I felt ready. My only concern was that I knew most of the people running train harder than I do and are a lot faster than me, but even if I finished last, I was doing this. 

This was a long race so I didn’t rush out to begin the race or get tired in the beginning because I had a long way to go. At my relaxed pace, I was so relaxed I didn’t realize I had run more than half of the first mile without stopping and my plan had been to walk every half mile. 

I was feeling pretty confident about the race, until a little after the first mile, I tripped and fell, scraping my right knee and both my hands on the floor. This is it,was my first thought, how am I going to continue for 15 more miles with my hands and knee hurting. Ana, my friend; was right beside me. She quickly helped me get up and took me to the first oasis just ahead. There I got help pouring cold water and ice on the bruises. 

Although we kept walking, I kept getting negative thoughts in my head, wondering what I was thinking. I can’t do this, I shouldn’t have signed up for such a long race. I should just do the 5k and go home, but Ana quickly got these thoughts out of my head before I even got to express them. She said no, it’s ok, this is just a new beginning, you can do this. I thought, she’s right, I’ve been through worse things; so with that in mind I was able to keep on with my plan.

I was able to make it through the test of the race with the help of my energy gels and gummies, drinking  both water and Gatorade at every oasis and talking to people along the way, people I knew and people I didn’t know. 

Life savers

I was just starting to get confident it was almost over,  I only had a few miles to go, when my ankle started bothering me, but I quickly decided to change my strategy. I started running only two or three minutes every half a mile and walking the rest. It worked because I walk really fast so it didn’t slow me down and my ankle pain didn’t get worse. 

As I got closer to the end, I saw Ana walking towards me. She had come to find me and finish the 16 miles with me. Some innocent gossip was just what I needed to get me to the finish line. The closer I got the more people from Freddy’s Runners recognized me and kept motivating me to finish. As I crossed the finish line, the one and only Godo, one of the coaches, was there holding my medal to put it around my neck, just like he promised he would. 

I’m very proud of my accomplishment yesterday and happy that I set out to do something else I had never done. I’m a little more confident about the half-marathon I have in March. It’s probably the hardest half-marathon in Puerto Rico but I think I can be ready by March if I just finished a 16 mile race in August. 

Official Time
Garmin Time

Also congratulations to the rest of Freddy’s Runners and everyone else who showed up completed either one of the three races or those who volunteered.

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Published by mariacristinasanfeliu

I’m an aspiring writer still looking for exactly what I want to write about, with a lot of creativity, imagination and desire to write. I studied Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University where I explored many different sides of writing through my classes and extracurricular activities in order to narrow my search for an identity as a writer. I have written for Citrus TV Noticias and La Voz magazine, both of which gave me the chance to explore different mediums in which to write in. Through Citrus TV Noticias I also gained experience in translating from English to Spanish and vice versa, which is also something that I would be interested in working on since I am fluent in both of these languages. I was also an intern at Syracuse University Press where I got hands on experience in what goes into actually editing and publishing a book. Through out the last four years I have faced a lot of challenges, which helped chape the person I am today. After being in a tragic car accident, being in comma, having a Traumatic Brain Injury, and being in therapy for over a year, I am a new me, willing to face challenges and knowing how to deal with them. I want to write about my accident and life after it to help others, show them it can be done and help in any way I can.

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