Every Mile A Memory (Part 1)

"Every mile a memory, every song, another scene, from some old movie going back in time, you and me." ~Dierks Bentley

Oh y'all....last weekend was something else!!  Every time I thought to myself, "Oh this has to be the craziest part of the weekend" it just got crazier.  I can't fit all of this chaos into one post.  So here is part one.  Stay tuned tomorrow for part two (which will involve the Spring football game, a quarterback photo, old age striking and an emergency landing).

The Race

As you all know, I went to Stillwater in order to participate in the Remember The Ten 10K race, which is held eacy year in memory of the 10 members of the OSU family who were killed in a plane crash back in 2001.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this race.

The race began with 14 seconds of silence---ten for each one of the victims of the 2001 crash and 4 for each of the victims of the 2011 crash.  Because I was determined to focus on the purpose of the race, I wrote each person's name on a little sticky note that I carried with me throughout the race.  Each kilometer, I prayed for the family of one of the ten, and one of the four, plus the coaches and other players who were at OSU during the crashes.  It was a great way to keep my mind on the real purpose behind the race.  Remembering the Ten means remembering the 10 men, along with those that they left behind, and I felt like this exercise allowed me to do that.

Running this race course was like running back through memories of three of the best years of my life.  I ran by my old dorm room, by the football stadium, by the Animal Science building where I'd meet the boys for lunch and help them do their homework, by the flag football field where College Roomie and I cheered the guys on before they got kicked out of flag football.  We ran down Western Street, which made me remember the Dry Cleaner Girl that all the guys were in love with, and the Animal House that was seated just off this road.  We ran by the Tri Delt house which made me think of the Oklahoma Girls and  Pink Boots, and by elementary schools that made me think about working with relay for life.  By the Strip that holds more memories than I could even start to list, and by the library that brought back all the mock trial practices we had in there.  We finished the run by running right behind the library and the stadium to the finish line.  While we did so, we passed several groups of prospective students there for open houses.  So because I had been praying all day, I said a quick prayer for these kids--that OSU would be as good to them as it was for me.

And finally, the race details.  It had to be a success given my two biggest fans....Little Linebacker who gave me a good luck hug before I headed out to the run and my God Daugher, GBaby, who was all decked out in OSU gear back in New Mexico.  Seriously--could these children be any cuter?

As I always do, I set three goals.  First, to run the entire race.  Second, to run it in less than 70 minutes.  Third, to run it in 10:00 mile average (62 minutes).  I knew the third goal was pretty far out there, but was hopeful for the other two.  Turns out, I did hit two of the three!  I ran the entire race without stopping in 66:67.  I was quite a bit over my desired 10 minute/mile pace, but hey, there's always next year! 

Meeting a Legend

If you would have told me that I would come home from Stillwater with a picture from the race AND a picture with our future quarterback and neither of those would be my new facebook profile, I would have called you a liar.  That was because never in my wildest dreams did I think I would meet Coach Sutton!

For you non-sports fans, Coach Sutton is a legend--the court inside OSU's Gallagher Iba Arena is named in his honor.  He took us to the final four.  He's one of only 8 coaches to win over 800 games.  He's in the Hall of Fame.  He was also the coach when the plane crash occurred.  And in true OSU style, he is in Stillwater for the memorial race every year.

I actually saw him before the race started, but there were a lot of people around and I had to get over to the starting area, so I just went on.  For the next hour while I was running, I was kicking myself for not taking a picture of Coach Sutton.  When the race was over and I was waiting on my friends to finish, I went to get a water and there he stood.....Coach Sutton.  He was talking to a family member of one of the Ten, so I just waited.  When he finished, I walked right up, shook his hand and introduced myself.  I told him that he was the coach when I was in school and how much I loved watching his teams.  He said, "We sure had some good times, didn't we?"  We talked about the Final Four, about where I lived and what I was doing.  Then he saw the camera in my hand and asked if I wanted a picture.  DUH!  And so here we have it.

I've already checked "Picture with a famous person" off my bucket list twice (Alex Weeden and Easton Corbin) but I will just tell you neither of those held a candle to this one.  I was so excited, I almost cried!  Me and Coach Sutton, in a picture together.  Between the trash pile and the bike rack, with me covered in sweat.  It was perfect.  That, alone, was worth the whole trip and running for an hour.