Race #6

The Whopper!

This was my half Marathon . . . crazy!
The morning started at 3 A.M. when we peeled ourselves out of the hotel bed to get ready. Our kids were still in Oregon time zone AND in strange beds AND having just been in the car for 14 hours so we didn't actually get to sleep until midnight . . . makes for a rough run the next day!

We were lucky to get a hotel in the same parking lot that the buses where shuttling from so we only had to walk across the parking lot to catch our ride up the hill.

Here we are on the way to the starting line. Our bus held a total of 12 people, there were many short bus jokes made all the way up the hill :)

The race didn't actually start until 6 so we had a lot of time to walk around, use the potties, stretch and get ready. Terry and two of my brothers ran it . . .

Before the trip Terry and I had shirts made for my family who was running. The shirts were my favorite part of the race . . .

We even made some for those not running that said "13.1 . . .At least they're only HALF crazy!" We had TONZ of comments as we ran . . . it was fun :)

Terry ran with me every step! I did really well until mile 8 then I started to feel the pain by mile 10 I was seriously ready to just walk the entire last three miles, but Terry kept me going, he endured many "stop talking to me" and "SHHHHH!" and much stink eye from me but didn't give up pushing me and in the end it didn't take me three hours like I thought it would . . . we finished in 2 hours and 35 minutes.

After the race I laid in the grass for a solid half hour, when I did finally try to walk again I had to make a quick run to the nearest trash can . . . not fun! Then I had to sit again for another half hour before I could even think of walking the 20 yards to the buses. (this is not an attractive picture at all but we're keepin' real around here, if Terry had gotten one of me sprawled out in the grass you could have a better picture of my post race blah)

I never realized how steep bus steps are until trying to climb them after that race . . .sheesh (I may or may not have crawled a little to get up them). We kept the rest of the day pretty low key . . . a lot of sitting and I did not put shoes on again until church the next day and I did not walk "normally" for a solid week after. I did try to run about a week later and it felt like I had never run a day in my life it took me 30 minutes to go 2.5 miles . . . but I am still trying and still have visions of myself cranking out a 10k and not having it kick my rear . . .I'll get there!

While I can't say I thought the race was fun, there is something really cool about pushing your body to do something you have never done before and realizing, "Hey I really can do that!"

I don't know that I will ever run that distance again, but I am glad to have done it once!

So until the next race (a shorter one) . . . happy running :) . . . or fast walking, or slow walking, or whatever you are doing to make a better you!