I've been so caught up in life that I haven't posted about this yet! Pictures will come later- can't get it to work right now and I need to post this while i have the time and before I forget.
I did it! I did it and I'm so proud of myself! I ran that race the best i possibly could. I pushed all the way until the end and didn't walk once. I even asked myself while i was running,"Why am I pushing so hard? I don't have to do this fast my goal is just to finish." But I still pushed. I finished in 2 hours 32 minutes (unofficial time) which is not fast by any runner's standards other then myself. It leaves me wondering how I can do better the next time. That was an average of 11.62 minute mile.
So my family dropped me off at the bus that took me up to the starting line bright and early Sat morning. I sat by a nice lady from Seattle who has run like 15 of these and it was fun to talk to her. We drove and drove and drove until finally we reached the starting line which was Beautiful! I wish I had brought my camera. The whole race was pretty. It was on a mountain and along a river and just gorgeous. So they dropped us at the starting line which had like 10 bathrooms lined up along the road and a line in front of every one. I had to laugh that I wasn't the only one concerned with using the facilities. We waited for about a half hour before we started the race all the while some full marathoners ran by us which was really fun. The girl I sat by on the bus, her boyfriend, ran by and we cheered for him. Then after a few minutes, we were off!
The first mile I ran in 9+ minutes and I knew I had to slow down. By the time I hit 3 miles my watch said 30 minutes. At mile 4-6 there was a MONSTROUS hill! Not sure my time for those miles, I was working too hard to look at my watch but I'm sure they were 12+.
Hills are so mentally challenging. When I started up the hill I couldn't see how big it was but I was pumped. One of my friends told me a few days before the race that I was going to "kill it" so that's what I thought. "I'm going to kill this hill!" And I did, at first anyway. I passed like 3 people on my way up (and they never passed me later, yes!). One of the things I tell myself while running up a hill is "what goes up must come down" and some how that helps me. But this hill would NOT go down. We wound around the trees and beautiful scenery up the mountain we went. Three times the hill leveled out for a minute so I thought it was over then went up AGAIN! By the third time, I wanted to cry, I didn't though and I went on (what else was there to do anyway.)
Mile 8, 9, 10 I was pumped and doing great but mile 11 and 12 I was ready to be done. People all around me were walking, I passed a lot of people here. The last stretch I picked up the pace and I finished strong. I finished so early Lance and the kids almost missed me they had to run to see me cross the finish line.
It was fun, it was beautiful and it felt great!
One awesome thing- I didn't have to go to the bathroom the whole time. In a runners world, or maybe just my world, that is great!
Some downers though:
*I couldn't breath at the end. Like literally, i was sucking in air but couldn't catch my breath I've never done that before it was kind of scary.
*I had a headache a large portion of the rest of the day and felt physically ill. I hope the next one I run I don't feel that lousy after
*WOW am I sore!!! I think it must have been the hill because sheesh! I could hardly move! I was so sore every time I dropped something I had to think about if I wanted that item bad enough to bend down and get it.
