Final 25-Miles – Perry Sasnett

A Challenging, Rewarding, and Enlightening Experience

This blog is long overdue; I have procrastinated long enough. In some way writing this has a finality to an event that I cherish and maybe not so willing to let go of. After 17 long, aggressive, challenging, rewarding, painful and enlightening weeks, I did something I’ve never done before. I ran 25 miles in 3:54:43 successfully!

When Perry and I decided to transfer our NYC marathon registration to 2017 due to his injury, we made our own local event to put our training to the test. I purposely made my route 25 miles and he chose to bike 100k, both of us saving the 26.2 to accomplish together in NYC as we set out to do initially.

I can say it was truly an emotional day for me and while it didn’t go as I had planned; it went as well as it could. One of the most important reflections is the people whom I have been lucky enough to cross paths with and keep around and the family that is always there for me. I am humbled by the support, care and concern I feel/felt surrounding our event.

©Stacy Sasnett

Start time was scheduled for 9am, but postponed by a phone call from our youngest daughter’s school, she has pink eye, WAIT…What??? Yep, the doctor luckily got to see her within the hour and confirmed the nurse’s diagnosis. Let me back up just for a second. I got the call at 0830, which means we have spent the entire morning preparing for a 9am start, we ate at the right time and took our supplements accordingly so our energy levels were off the hook and we were ready to rock, especially Perry (I hadn’t taken the last supplement yet) He was bouncing off the walls! I’m on my way to the doc and I see three of my friends from the hood standing about two miles away from home on the trail just hanging out and the light bulb lights up! They are waiting for me to run by, but now I’m driving by. Oh no! I call and give them the pink eye news and thank them for the support. By the time I got home from the doc we were ready to take a nap, but we didn’t, I did what every 39 year old with a goal to run 25 miles and sick kid at home would do…..I called “Mmoooommm”! And of course, she came to the rescue (I‘ve officially ordered her cape). We started on our journeys just after 11am.

I had a bit of technical difficulty in getting my Garmin tracking system working properly so #TeamStacy could arrive at strategic locations with water and Gu refills, but I got it going after the first mile. I had the best pit crew ever!!! #TeamStacy met me at miles 8, 12.5, 20 and had an awesome finish line waiting for me! The positive energy and cheers were right on time! What tech do you use to track your progress?

It was a surreal kind of run, I think of it like a wedding day, so much preparation went into it for almost 4 months and today was the day. I was torn, I was looking forward to not having my days governed by running, but at the same time, what’s next, I wondered… Well, I kind of have a plan but I’ll save it for later. I felt strong for just over the first half of my run and then every mile after that became increasingly harder. I arrived at the location I was expecting to find #TeamStacy and they were not there, but behind me rolled up Perry. Unfortunately, during the last three hours he had gotten a flat tire and had to take it to the shop for repairs and instead of heading home, he found me! Me! He unquestionably made the last 5 miles so much more manageable, less painful and probably faster (literally & figuratively) than they would have been by myself. I love my husband! I found my pit crew just a couple of blocks later and they gave me my final refills to get me through.

©Stacy Sasnett

©Stacy Sasnett

The finish line was so cool! My daughters holding signs and ribbon stretching across the street, my mom sporting the pink #TeamStacy, coworkers and people I call friends cheering us on! The NYC marathon won’t hold a candle to this experience! I’m eternally grateful to everyone who showed up to congratulate our accomplishments: Mom, Addison, Sailor, Bud & Angela, Kim, Peggy, Mika, Tori, Jenn, Josh, Eddie, Chris, Jamar and Jamie. While Perry didn’t get his 100k in, there is always next week 😉