race day

First of, let me say that I didn't get a photo and I'm pretty bummed about it.  So much so that I may take a picture with our numbers pinned on and our "finisher medals" the next time we go running. 

The forecast today was for thunderstorms and a high of 51 degrees.  Not optimal.  Neil and I drove the course last night, and let me tell you, the race organizer and I apparently have very different opinions about what constitutes a "significant change in elevation."

I could make this a really long post, but I'm exhausted, so I won't (maybe I will later, but not now). 

Long story short:  it was pretty awesome.  I had butterflies in my stomach as we lined up at the starting line.  It was overcast and cloudy, but nary a raindrop did we see all day. 

The first six or seven miles were really fun.  I was running easily, chatting with the people around me, enjoying all the people cheering from the sidelines, and very thankful for the awesome volunteers giving us water every mile and Gu packets every couple of miles.  Around mile eight, we hit a very large hill.   Lots of people were stopping and walking up it.  I kept running all the way up, but I had a little teeny side ache that took me the next mile to get rid of--just enough to be irritating, but not inhibiting.   Miles eight, nine, and ten were running around this lake in an insanely long trail that kept looking like it was going to end and DIDN'T.  (As in you would round a curve and see a big long loop in front of you, instead of the cute little bridge 100 yards away that you thought you were going to use to cross).  When we got back onto the main road at mile 10, I was pretty tired.  I also felt blisters starting (on top of a callus), so every step was like a little fire in the side of my shoe.  Honestly, that bothered me more than anything else the entire race.  That stupid little pinprick of fire in my shoe got pretty agonizing by the end--I was physically tired, but my joints didn't hurt and I wasn't struggling for breath--just that shoe of fire. 

Mile ten was the worst, I think.  It was not close enough to the end that I was running on adrenaline, but it was far enough into the race that I was really tired.  I survived that mile by telling myself "You can do anything for a mile."  Miles 11, 12, and the first half of mile thirteen were on the devil road of sharp pointy rocks sticking up through the asphalt.  One interesting thing I noticed at that point was that while during the first eight miles, everyone around us was pretty chatty and friendly, by the last couple of miles everyone was silent and super-focused (except for when someone on the side of the road said, "You can do it!  Almost there!" and Neil jumped up and clicked his heels together, and then everyone around us started cheering for him.  I was just wondering how he had the energy!)

When we rounded the corner and saw the finish line, I decided that I was going to sprint with 100% of all my remaining energy, since Neil had been running with me all day, and I wanted to let him run all-out at the end, since he wouldn't leave me.  So I ran faster than I've ever run before in my life, Neil said, "Wow!" and started running with me.  I could hear everyone cheering louder and louder when I started sprinting, and then all of a sudden the crowd's noise started to fade, my vision started to go in and out, and I could feel my skin turning icy cold.  Scary!  I tried to slow down a little bit, but I was pretty much over the finish line, and we were done!!!  (and then I turned into a chattering ice cube in the car, Neil decided I needed to get into a hot shower before I went into some sort of runner's shock, and hence, no picture.)

We ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 6 minutes, or just over 9 and a half minutes per mile.  My main goal was anything less than 2 hours and 10 minutes (my dreaming goal was 2 hours and 5 minutes), so I was really happy with the time and with how I felt physically when we were done.  I placed 258th out of the 640 women who ran.  I think Neil could have gone much, much faster without me, but we ran it together, and it was awesome. 

now I'm going to go limp over to the 'fridge (except not as much of a limp because my dad massaged my feet) and eat the ice cream that my mother has informed me I need to replace all the calories I burned this morning.  I love parents!