Race to the Finish

I traveled, ran and blogged about it regularly, including the race in Istanbul I’d run and written about just days before.  The fact the Flying Blue Running is the running community for Air France/KLM, and the first destination race I’d run was Paris-Versailles and I run my first half and full marathons in Amsterdam, was another indication to me that this was a match made in heaven. But I had to convince them of our compatibility and win the blogger competition.

I guess it’s appropriate that the competition reminded me of a race. The anticipation and excitement I felt was similar to what I felt on the day of my first marathon. I had prepared for this.  I was confident that all the training I’d put in, all the races I’d run and blog posts I’d written was sufficient.  I’d done the hard work and the blog entries I’d written for the contest were evidence of this.

And as with races, I had to remind myself to run MY RACE, and not to worry about the person who passed me at mile 12, or in this instance, the person whose blog entries had more comments or likes than mine.

During those last days of the competition, I felt my stamina waning, as it often does in the final miles of a race. The finish line seems so close, and yet so far. But it is then that the cheers from supporters and spectators mean more than ever. It’s a  “thumbs up” here, a comment there and a “GO. You can do it!” from a random stranger in the crowd that gets you through those last miles.

When the competition ended, and I received word that I was Flying Blue Running’s new blogger, I cried, just as I had when I crossed the finish line of my first marathon, “exuberant, elated, exhausted and dreaming of my next marathon” with Flying Blue Running.