Move over fro-yo! I am ready to run with or without you! Without any shadow of a doubt, the most magical, delicious, wonderful, fantastic, serendipitous part about running is the finish line! Having now completed my first half-marathon I get it... I understand why people pay to exercise, because man, participating in the The City of the Oaks Half-Marathon was one of the most incredible things I have experienced in my life.
When the alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. ... take note that I said 4:45 a.m. as in that time of day before the sun comes up where the world is filled with studying college students and people still getting their drink on... as in not anywhere even remotely close to noon... my preferred wake up time, and for anyone that knows me, even waking up at noon might require a cup of coffee, or a monster, to really get me going... I nearly jumped through the roof and immediately set about in a frenzied panic because 1. Halloween was the night before and I hadn't laid out any of my stuff like I said I would. 2. It was POURING down rain. 3. I didn't have my giant tub of Cytomax performance drink by my side and there was NO WAY I was going to run 13.1 miles without it.
So I frantically scurried around, searching for rain jackets and knee braces, preparing bagels for breakfast and dashing out the door to get my Cytomax crossing my fingers that the rain would dump for the next hour and magically disappear by the start of the race.
It didn't. So I chanted "Cold, wet, yuck, burr!" for the 20 minutes leading up to the race while I danced around in the rain pretending to warm-up and stretch, but secretly thinking that I was surrounded by a bunch of crazy people and perhaps the smartest thing would be to run for my life...
Then the count down begun... so I squeezed in, figuring I had paid the 80 bucks and all, I might as well participate... next thing I know the massive mob of people starts shuffling forward, I think someone might've yelled "Go!" all I really remember was trying to start the timer on my watch and keep track of my running buddy. Next thing I know there we are, running with thousands of other people. People all around me are talking about not making the fatal error of running too fast in the beginning... I think this is wise, take it nice and slow, all I'm here to do today is finish, there's no rush, three hours of running is three hours of running no matter how you do it! Hill, after hill, after gust of wind, after hill, I realize that I am at mile marker number 6 and it's been an hour and five minutes! Holy cow! I'm making decent time and I still feel great! So, I do as Forrest Gump, would've, I just kept running. Scott caught me on the way ready with my handy dandy Cytomax, then just beyond that was something even better... Beer! I was a bit puzzled at first because I wasn't expected a water station just yet, and the cups looked different... mmm turns out it was some good'ole pbr. Thank you to whoever decided to hand out pbr, you rock.
And from there it was off to the finish line. I managed to avoid the portopotty pitstop by telling myself if I just ran faster I would make it back to the car in time. It worked. I stomped my goal into the ground and finished in 2 hours 17 minutes and 31 seconds. Had I only known... I would have tried harder to shave off a few more minutes. But, there's always next time.
I'm thinking 50 races in 50 states or maybe just the best races of all the states. I've heard rumors of races in high heels and armadillo chases... I like the sound of it. It might be a while before I can afford a trip to Hawaii, heck, even going to New York is a bit pricey on my current budget... so until then I guess I'll just look around for the most creative, most affordable and closest to home.
* Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to participate! I wouldn't have done it without you!
