Race Day Recap!

What a wonderful trip!

Saturday Morning: was up at 5 a.m. to shower and dress. After a slight delay trying to calm down baby (she hates when I go out of town) I was on my way to pick up Roni at her house. It was FREEZING. There was rain and snow falling for the first half of the trip. We double checked the forecast for the city and it was still supposed to be 70 and sunny down there... so that made us feel a little better. We just hoped we weren't going to come home to 3 feet of snow.

After 3 1/2 hours of talking and laughing we made it to the city. Now, you have to picture two country girls that only go to the city once a year... and even then our husbands do the driving. So we get off our little road and merge onto a 8 lane highway crowded with millions of cars going 100 miles an hour. (a little exaggeration, but not by much) Luckily I had studied the map on the computer and had the major roads we had to take memorized. We found the hotel and parked the car. I think that may have been the first breath I had taken since arriving in the city.

We were 5 hours early to the hotel (check in was at 3) but they had a room for us and we made our way to a very hip, trendy and clean room. I stretched on the bed... immediately after visiting the bathroom! We were getting hungry and decided to go out for lunch. I DID NOT want to get back in the car... so we asked the hotel guy where the closest street was with restaurants and he said the next major street over.

We decided to walk. Not thinking we were going to go far, I kept on my cowboy boots and jeans on. It was still a little chilly in the city, but nothing like home. Cars flew past us... crossing at busy intersections was very thrilling... and a little bit like playing chicken. Two miles later we were walking down a very busy street. It was right next to the college, so there were more people walking then driving. Thank God. We found a cute little Greek restaurant where we ordered felafel's and three huge glasses of water. I was dripping sweat.. and a little worried about the blister building on the back of my ankle from my boots.

We ate, slowly, and enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of city life. It really made me appreciate the stress free living of country life.

We walked back to the hotel... this time going much slower thanks to the 10 added pounds of food we ate. I tried to step differently so that my boots didn't rub the same spot. About half way back to the hotel a car slowed down and was pacing us. A white Lincoln with windows so black we couldn't see the driver. At this point I had flash backs of movies with city gangsters doing drive bys on innocent people.

The window rolled down and a young man stuck his head out. "Do you know where the mall is?"

I had to laugh. I shook my head and told him we were from out of town too and had no idea where it was. He smiled, waved and they sped off. At this point we walked a little faster.

That evening we got back in the car and drove to the expo to pick up our bib numbers, shirts and grab bags. We found out that there were over 1800 women running the next morning! My bib number was 11 and yellow. This signified that I was a cancer survivor. Anyone with the numbers 1-18 were survivors. I only saw one other yellow bib the whole time... she ran the 10 miles and looked awesome!

We grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the hotel. We were in bed and asleep by 8:30. The alarm was set for 4:30.... I woke up at 3.

Sunday: RACE DAY!!

There is nothing more exciting then being surrounded by hundreds of women wanting to run!! I was signed up for the 5K... Roni was running the 10 miles. The great thing was we all started together. The bad thing was we all started together. Seriously, I'm not a fast runner but it is very annoying to start a race and have to dodge and duck around walkers and slow joggers. The path was narrow too, so you had to wait for an opening to happen before you could shove past.

The good part of this was that it kept me from sprinting out of the starting line.... I did that in my 10K race and was exhausted by my 3rd mile.... I kept a slow and steady pace that allowed me to pass people safely and still keep momentum.

I ran for 2 miles before stopping to walk... and that was only because it was a water stop. Looking back I should have ignored it and just kept on going. I didn't really need it.... and trying to keep running after that little walk was impossible. So I checked my watch and kept to a walk 2/run 2 program.

The route was fantastic. We ran next to the lake and over two bridges. I came in to the finish line at 40:01 .... an average of a 13 minute mile pace!!

The worst part...... I could have done the 10 miler. When I ran across the finish line, I could have kept going. I could have done it again!!! Being down in the lower elevation made my breathing so much easier. I live at 6200 ft... the race was at 1200 ft... that's a huge difference, and I could feel it in my lungs. I cooled down and then went to cheer on Roni as she made her second pass by the park to finish out the last of the 10 miles. She made it in 1:46:53. She rocks!

So, once again I learned some valuable information for the next race.

1) I don't NEED to stop for water at the first water table.... and if I do, don't STOP... keep running!

2) Don't sell myself short. I KNOW I can run a 5K easily... next time go for the gold!!

This is good advice, since my next scheduled race is the PF Chang Half marathon in January! The best thing about that is the finish line is in the exact same spot as this race was. I'm excited. I have a lot of training to do... but I'm ready now. Physically and mentally.

******SIDE NOTE*****

I noticed that people there don't cheer for you unless they know you. I didn't have anyone there to cheer me on, and that made me sad..... but as soon as I was done I went to the side lines and cheered for every lady that ran by. Running a race is hard.... we should ALL have cheerleaders on the sidelines, whether they know us or not. I'm cheering for you.... please go out and cheer for somebody else!!!