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Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while and leave footprints and we are never the same again.  -Flavia

Since November 22, 2009, I have been on a journey to a healthier me.  While I have been working very hard and diligently on this journey, I have not been walking it alone.  Obviously the last 25 posts have detailed all of those who have been encouraging me along the way, but I have been sitting in the driver's seat of a car that has a GPS named Coach.  I know I'm doing the work, but she has guided me along every single step of the way.  In one of my early messages to her when she explored with me the idea of going out for a walk or maybe even a jog, I said to her, "I will NEVER do a marathon because it is just a bad idea and I think it is so hard on the body."  Well, Coach, you never EVER suggested that I do one, and I am here.

In just a matter of hours, I will be lined up at the start line.  I will be wearing all of my race day gear:  sports bra, sports tank, sports shorts, long-sleeved shirt, homemade race t-shirt, sweat-wicking socks, Brooks shoes, Fuel Belt loaded with carbs & Nuun, race ID band, watch, and tattoos on my arms that I made to remind me of my list of 26.  And while every single one of those 26 on the list are incredibly important in the growth and development of me as I am today, it is single-handedly the work of Coach that brought me to the decision to run this race today.

I saw a shirt today that said "Running:  Cheaper than therapy."  Well this is definitely true, but running for me (as it is Bridget) is more like the Prozac, and working with Coach is my therapy. 

Coach, I know I tell you all the time how much I appreciate you in my life, but I can honestly tell you that this past nearly 2-years of working with you has empowered me to make life-changing and life-saving decisions in my life, and I have become a person I always knew I could be.  Someday we will have to "break up" because someday I just won't need you as a Coach anymore.  But when that sad day comes, I will always know that you have been a friend and have, as the quote says, left permanent prints on my heart and in my life.  I hope someday we can run a race together in the literal sense--not in the metaphorical sense or the "you're running one in Baltimore the same weekend I'm running one in Des Moines" sense. 

If anybody wants to read up on Coach Lynn, feel free to check her out on her own site.  And feel free to tell her how amazing she is--I'm proof of her work.

Thank you, Coach, for everything.  And I mean everything.  The last mile--when I'm dying, I'm crying, my legs think they are going to give out and I want  nothing more than to puke or collapse--that mile is for you.  Not cuz I want you to have me at my worst, but because I will picture you on my shoulder, cheering me on the whole way and pushing me one step further than I ever thought I could go.