So, before I begin with the race recap, I have to talk about the night before. Friday night I had Bunco group. I kept debating back and forth and having discussions with Shannon and Lisa (my racing buddies) about how much food I was going to eat at Bunco. This is my first month in over 6 of being off of my no dairy/soy diet and getting to eat all of the yummy food everyone makes. I must say, these girls outdid themselves this month with the cheesy dips and fabulous desserts. As soon as I saw the spread, I dug in! Later that night, while I was getting ready for bed I suddenly had this horrible sick to my stomach feeling. I realized I had definitely pigged out too much. I ended up setting my alarm for 6:30 a.m. and going to bed, just hoping the pain would go away and be gone in the morning.
In discussions that night at Bunco I was telling a few people that over the last 11 weeks since we started running (33 days total), we have never felt a drop of rain or been rained out. That's amazing when you think about Nebraska summers. Uh oh, I totally cursed us!
I slept good that night and ended up waking up (feeling good) to LOUD cracks of thunder at 6:00 a.m. Then I heard the rain start pounding against my bedroom window. I laid there for a minute and thought to myself, "This cannot seriously be happening. Why did I have to bring up the rain discussion at Bunco last night?" I suddenly jumped out of bed to turn on the TV and watch the radar. The upbeat weather girl on channel 6 comes on and basically says that the day's rain should hold off until sometime around noon. Are you kidding me lady? It's pouring outside, and can't you hear that thunder? She's obviously not going to be any help so I hopped on the computer to look at the live radar. Not good! Thunderstorms everywhere.
I got ready anyway and headed to Shannon's house by 7:15 for our agreed upon meeting time. We were all really bummed about the weather but decided to head to Lake Zorinsky anyway. There were several cars there when we pulled in, so that was a good sign. We ran from the car to the registration tent and asked what the plan was. We were told that they were going ahead with the race, rain or shine. I was shocked that they'd let us run with the lightning. We were also informed that the race didn't start until 8:30 (we thought it was at 8:00). We gathered our registration goods and headed back to the car to wait for an hour. While we sat there the rain continued heavily, and the lightning and thunder didn't let up either. Shannon and Lisa talked about not racing, but I said I was racing either way. The organizers of the race didn't care about the lightning, why should I?
At about 8:15 we decided to face the rain and head to the restroom. The rain had let up a bit, but it was cold! We hung out in the warm bathroom for a bit and then headed outside. Other runners (hardcore looking ones at that - I was intimidated) started gathering around the starting line, and suddenly the rain stopped! It was crazy! Right around 8:28 the storm completely disappeared. No rain, no lightning, no thunder. The head guy said a little speech about MS (the cause we were running for) and buzzed his horn signaling the start of the race. And we were off!
The course was kind of weird. We went back and forth across the same area a couple different times. The roads and paths were a little slick from all the rain we had gotten, but it wasn't that bad. The first mile was fairly easy for me, even with a large hill to climb. I didn't bring a watch with me because I didn't want to obsess about my time. I just wanted to run at my own pace and hopefully make my goal. At just past the 1 mile mark I yelled to Lisa to ask her what time we were at. 11:22. Awesome! That was my fastest mile yet. Shortly thereafter we came upon a much-needed water station.
At around the 1.75 mile point I was starting to wear down. I kept watching the parking lot to see if Cory and the girls had arrived yet. I finally spotted my van, and I was excited. I got back to the water station, and just past that, I saw Cory and my girls. Madison saw me and waved. She ran towards me and yelled, "Hi mommy! Run fast!" That was exactly what I needed at that exact moment. I told her I loved her and kept going. Knowing she was watching me and would be waiting for me at the finish line made me run harder.
I went back and forth between running and walking (there was no way I could run the whole thing) to conserve my energy and catch my breath. I knew I still had that same hill to climb again just towards the end of the race. When I got to the hill, I was totally exhausted. I had to push so hard just to walk up it. When I finally reached the top I knew I only had about 1/4 of a mile left. I also knew I had to be getting close to my 38 minute goal. Lisa was about 30 seconds ahead of me, and Shannon was about 1 minute behind me so I couldn't yell out to either of them to find out what time we were at. At that point, I was really wishing I had brought a watch. I told myself I would run until the end, but I just couldn't quite do it. As I approached the finish line I could see a big board with the time - 38:12, 38:13, 38:14.... I knew I hadn't hit my goal and I was disappointed, but I ran hard to the end. I never saw my ending time, but I think it was around 38:20 or so. I was so proud of myself for finishing but disappointed for not hitting my goal of 38 minutes.
The winner of the race ended up finishing 16:07. Craziness! The final results were posted on the organizers' website later yesterday and my official time was 37:50! Woohoo! I have no idea which time was accurate, but since it's posted on the web I'm going with it. I reached my goal! I finished 99th out of 114 people. Slightly embarrassing, but I justify it by telling myself that the people that showed up on that rainy day had to be the hardcore runners. That weather wasn't for sissies!
All in all, I'm really proud of myself for sticking with this, even through all of my ups and downs. For now, I'm hanging up my running shoes to take care of my baby, but I plan to be back at it again next spring, when I'm done breastfeeding. I hope to be stronger and faster next year!
The approach to the finish line (in the blue shirt)
Crossing the finish line
Mission accomplished!
Lisa, Shannon, and me after the race
