runnin' fool

i would have regaled you all with tales of the race yesterday, but then blogger was stupid and wouldn't let me log on. I'm surprised it let me comment on people's blogs, it didn't act like it was gonna.

Reader's Digest version of race day:
Got up early, ate a gross energy bar and some delightfully not-too-flavored lemon/lime energy drink. I was late geting to Erica's house to meet up, which made us late getting to the starting line. Whoops! We weren't the only ones tho, there were others that passed us from behind (they were going pretty quick, we figured they were serious about actually competing). We made it up the worst hill on the course, and I didn't even stop to walk....mostly because right at the top of the hill was my first cheering section, Mr. R, Mr. and Mrs. T, and Kimmie. YAY! So I waited until after the water stop when I figured out that it's really hard to run and drink water at the same time.

Kept going, kept going, walked up a really yucky hill just before mile 5, but then at the top Gina and Erica were waiting and taking pictures (thanks girls...) and more water, such a great thing! More people screaming for Sarah because her name was in big letters across the front of her shirt. Seemed like every time I wanted to walk we'd come upon a cheering section, and I didn't want to disappoint, so I'd keep going. Then I got really tired, so I walked anyway. My mom was waiting between mile 7 and 8, which was such a boost! She took pics too, which by that point I didn't mind as much. By mile 8 I was getting pretty tired, more people cheering, music, water stops, very effective in keeping my mind off how badly my legs were starting to hurt. After mile 9 I really wanted to stop. Really, really wanted to, but Sarah and Christine started yelling my name and were cheering me on, and that helped A LOT, and the big hill at the end was my goal, I was so glad to finally make it! My very own cheering section was waiting for me again toward the bottom of the hill, and I was able to will my legs to keep going. Whew!

So Christine and Anna Leisa also have tales from Race Day, but I do have something they don't.

Pictures!

Thanks Erica for providing them, and taking them, I guess - tho I wasn't excited about it at the time.

















Sarah definitely had the smart idea of the day - putting her name on her shirt so people would cheer for her by name! I felt left out. Next time around, I'm all over it.

















I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten away with running the entire time. By the end, I felt like each joint in both legs were going to fall apart, I wasn't sure how I kept upright.

All in all, my time according to the little chip they gave me was 2hrs, 2min, 13 seconds. I was aiming for 2hrs, so that's not too shabby. I'm glad I did it, it feels very good, I would totally do it again, but I would need some super extreme motivation to even consider doing a marathon. A 1/2 marathon - perhaps. I would need to keep up on my training a little more. But seriously, watch out for me next year, I officially have a time to beat.