5k run | chrissyruns

Welcome to my very first blog! For awhile now I have wanted to start one – if it was only for me or if anyone or no one ever read it, I wanted to write about my experiences running and my journey to fitness. For one reason or another, I have failed to begin. This weekend, though, marks the first anniversary of my very first 5k race (since that time, I have completed several smaller races, and I am now training for my 3^rd half marathon this year that we will travel to Columbus for at the end of this month), and I am finally sitting down to get this done – or started, depending on your point of view.

A little about me: I’ve never been what you would call an athletic-type person. Oh, I tried things – basketball, swimming, field events in track and field in high school, then later rollerblading, biking, and my husband, Jeff, and I joined a gym… or two – but I never really found my niche or stuck with anything. I also tend to be pretty busy. Jeff and I have four children who keep us going all the time with their various events, and I work part time as a sign language interpreter. I love my husband, I love our family, I love my job, and I love our home (which isn’t anything that would ever be in a magazine, and sometimes it is more of a home-base or pit-stop than anything, but it’s home, it’s where we are together and a family and where we are raising our kids.)

My sister-in-law, Cynthia, runs. She has been running for several years and she has completed several half marathons, the New York and Chicago Marathons, and several smaller races. She is an inspiration, and seeing what she has accomplished made me want to run – but wanting to run, and actually going out and doing it are two totally different things. I had been walking pretty regularly, between 30 and 60 minutes several times a week, and I decided that I was going to go ahead and run part of it. When you are a kid, you just pick up your feet and go. I ran everywhere as a kid – playing tag, on the playground, running in the back yard, chasing (or running from) my brother or sister – just ran! Never gave it a thought. Imagine – years and years of not doing it at all and then all of a sudden picking up your feet and going! Yeah. Not so much. Every part of my body responded with “What the heck?!!” Nothing seemed to want to work together, as a matter of fact, I doubted that my various body parts even knew the others existed, let alone that they needed to work in sync! I wondered how on earth I could let myself get to that point. But it wasn’t enough. It was too hard and I didn’t want to feel that bad about myself, so I put it away and didn’t try again for a long time.

But I did try again.

Two years ago, September 9^th, 2011, my niece Jessica was in a car accident. She was 23 years old at the time and on a first date with a young man when the truck they were in blew a tire and the vehicle flipped several times and landed in a field. The young man was only minorly injured, but Jessica, not wearing her seatbelt, was ejected from the truck. Her injuries were massive, varied, and life threatening – life altering. The worst of the injuries left Jessica, a vivacious, intelligent, sassy, beautiful young woman, with traumatic brain injury. After more than three months in the Trauma Center at the Med in Memphis, and Shepherd Rehabilitation Center in Atlanta, Jessie was sent home with her family to Drummonds, Tennessee in a minimally conscious state.

Her family, Tony (my brother-in-law), Lenore (my sister-in-law) & Derrick (my nephew) have changed their lives in order to accommodate Jessica’s medical needs, and there are many. We are all so thankful that they are surrounded by so many loving, caring souls in Memphis, which include long time friends, co-workers, fellows in faith and many, many of Jessica’s friends from Germantown Hospital where she worked as a surgical tech. One incredible thing that they were able to accomplish was a benefit 5k run, the proceeds going to help pay for some of Jessica’s care. So this weekend last year, the Jessie Torres Benefit was a success! The 5k4jessie team raised generous donations to help Jessica and her family with daily expenses and ongoing medical bills.

And that was my motivation. I began to run for Jessica. It took months of working kinks out of my body and learning how to run again before I was able to run one mile – and many more before I was able to finish all 3.1 – as a matter of fact I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do it when we arrived in Memphis – but I darn sure was gonna try! I wanted not only to finish the 5k, I wanted the run it all for her! So in the spirit of little Jessica from my memories, jumping out of the van in my driveway exclaiming “Aunt Christine! Aunt Christine! I’m fixin’ to be eight!!” I left the starting line that morning sayin’ “Jessica, I’m fixin’ to run this for you!” And I did.

And I kept going. And at each race, I wear Jessica’s picture over my heart. I pray someday she can join me. Jessica was and continues to be my motivation.

I will run a 5k this weekend in honor of Jessica again, and I would like to invite anyone who happens to see this to go out and run, or walk or just stand in the fresh air and say a prayer or put forth positive energy and healing thoughts with Jessica in mind.

Thank you for allowing me to share.