A Long, Long Way To Run

...you can contact me through my blog, my personal email, via facebook, or at mobilemarypoppins@gmail.com. Thank you all for your support so far!!

Dear Lincoln, Lilliana, Leni, Juliana, Evyn, Jack, Faye, Chloe, Emerson, Lake, Rita, Ella, Violet, and Poppy,

Bonjour! I am still living in Paris, having such great adventures, and really loving life. Much has happened since I last wrote to you. Violet has a new sister... welcome to the world, Poppy! Ella has moved to Germany with her family, which is not too far from me so I hope to see them soon. I saw Lincoln’s mom recently, I met a good friend of Juliana’s family in October, and Chloe’s mom is visiting in a few weeks. It helps keep me feeling closer to you all!

I’m writing to tell you about an exciting thing I did last Sunday. I ran a very, very long race. It was 26.2 miles. If you got off a plane at the airport (LAX) and ran to Malibu, that’s about how long I ran! It took me 5½ hours. I had hoped to do it in a slightly shorter time than that, but after 22 miles my legs were so sore I could hardly run anymore and I had to walk most of the rest of the way to the finish line.

The race was called the Paris Marathon (or, as they say in French, le Marathon de Paris). It’s held every year, in April, in Paris. People come from all over the world to run in it. 40,000 people ran this year. Can you imagine that many people all trying to run down the street?! They had to make sure all the streets were closed off to cars. And lots of people came to support the runners. They stood by the side of the road with flags, cheering. It was great. I never felt too tired for most of the race because of all the great energy coming from people in the crowd cheering me on. Because I had my name on my shirt, lots of people were shouting my name, too!

I wish I could have taken more photos of all the fun stuff I saw on the way, but I was too busy running!

Some of my new Paris friends (Jim, Sasha, Ben, Antoine, Alison, Emily, Hugues, Esther, Pierre, and Paul) came out to support me and cheer me on, and Dianne flew all the way from Chicago to come and be my number one cheerleader. She was amazing, helping me prepare before the race and giving me lots of tips, and she even ran for a few minutes with me near the end when I was feeling really tired. I can’t imagine how I would have done it without her. She was also my official photographer for the day!

The race started very early in the morning and it was freezing cold. I had a big shiny wrapper, like a massive piece of aluminum foil, to wrap around me to keep me warm. It’s amazing stuff. Although it’s really thin, because it’s so shiny it reflects the heat that leaves your body, and keeps it under the wrap to keep you warm.

I had to get into my place near the back of the big crowd of runners because I was going to be one of the slower ones. The fast people went to the front.

I did a big warm up, dancing to the music they were playing over the loudspeakers.

The man who won the whole race was from Kenya and he ran it in 2 hours and 5 minutes. Lots of his friends from Kenya also ran it in very fast times. When I was only half way around the course someone in the crowd was holding a big sign saying, “The Kenyans have finished already.” It made me laugh! Then I saw people holding a sign that said, “There’s beer at the end!” That made me laugh even more!

Getting over the start line was dangerous. Lots of people had worn cheap shirts and plastic wrappers to keep them warm and when we got going they just took them off and threw them onto the ground. It was like running on a sea of clothes!

Because the French use a metric system of measurements, they use kilometers instead of miles. There are about 1.6km in every mile. So at 22km I’d run just over 13.5 miles. I was feeling great.

The first time I saw Dianne in the crowds, I started to sprint towards her, I was so happy she was there.

Because I knew I had to keep running for five hours, I had a plan to run at a very steady pace. I knew I mustn’t try to go faster, even if I felt I wanted to, otherwise I would get too tired too early and possibly not be able to continue. I wore a backpack with lots of drinks and some snacks in it. I had to take a little drink every ten minutes. It’s very important to keep your body hydrated by drinking a little and often rather than drink big quantities all in one go. I had applesauce sachets and energy gels and chocolate to keep me going. And at 21 miles I also ate a cookie because I was really low in energy.

Crossing the finish line was an amazing feeling but I'd never been so tired in my whole life!

I couldn't believe I was still standing.

I was so happy to get my medal. Even if it was bright yellow and in the shape of a T-shirt (I’d imagined something more like an Olympic gold medal!)

I actually kind of got two medals because Dianne gave me a beautiful necklace with “26.2” on it (to show I’d run 26.2 miles) for finishing my race. I’ve worn it every day since the race so far.

I’m not kidding, kids, this was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m really proud of my achievement. It changed my life in so many ways, making me much stronger in my body and in my mind. I love running now and I hope I keep doing it for many years to come.

Although it was fun to do the run, I was also doing it for a very important reason. I asked people to sponsor me so I could raise money for a charity called Chain of Hope. They help sick children in Africa get heart operations that save their lives. You know how, if you got sick, your mom or dad could take you straight to the hospital and make you better? Well, in Africa there are many, many kids whose parents can’t do that. They need help. So I was raising money to try and help them. Here’s the link to the sponsorship page if you think you could spare a few dollars for those kids:

https://www.justgiving.com/susannahsaary/1

The reason this was such a big challenge for me is because I used to be so bad at running. Before October last year, I’d never run more than a couple of blocks before. It took me six months of really, really hard training. I honestly didn’t think I was going to do it sometimes. I nearly gave up. But I kept going and the whole experience showed me that if there is something you really want in life, you must never, ever give up. You have to keep going, no matter how painful and difficult it gets.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the marathon. Maybe some of you will run one someday. I recommend it; it’s an incredible experience!

Miss you all so much. Hope it’s not too long before I see you all again.

Gros bisous (that's French for lots of kisses to you!)

Susie