Well last night I picked up Alex and we headed down to Charlotte to see my parents before my race and crash at thier place. Thank goodness it worked out that way because Im not sure I would have woken up in Greensboro to drive down so early in the mornining AND race the same day. So I picked her up and we started going and her husband Ron called. He had some bad news but wanted her to go anyways, His mother had passed away. Super sad! He insisted on Alex supporting me at the race and was very selfless.
So we got down to my parents and I had an orange while everyone else had pizza and beer. :( O well... I got my share later. We chatted with my parents until 10 and then called it a night. It was so much fun having a sleep over at my parents house!
That night I had this dream, Of course I would too.. I had a dream that this big black lady stole my mp3 player at the gym when i set it down. I went to get it from her and she got in such a tiff over it and then managment came over and took it away from both of us. They told me that I couldnt prove it was mine! So I ended up missing my race, and I was upset because of that and I didnt have my phone on me so about 30 missed calls were on it and people were wondering where I was. Thankfully none of that really happened....
So I did wake up before my alarm clock. I heard my Dad's shoes hit the staircase and BING i was up. That sort of thing would happen when I was in highschool. So i was up before 545 and downstairs eatting a light breakfast of english muffin, (no pb), banana, and then got a powerbar for closer to the race. I have learned that peanutbutter gives me the WORST side stitches in the world when running. They are so unberarable. I went to get Alex up at 6 and we got our act together and then left for the race.
I brought my old swim bag with me that I used to take to races and filled it with all the stuff that might be important to me while going. When we got downtown, my dad sort of let us out to get to the convention center to pick up all my race stuff. He went to find a parking spot and then meet us there later. It was still dark and we didnt see the signs to get into the center but eventuntually found our way there. After countless amount of stairs and escalators we got to the bottom of the center and found where I was to get my race number and shirt. We then met up with my Dad who wanted to walk around and look at all the stuff that people were trying to sell others for a crazy expensive price.
We all went back up stairs and then just relaxed on the carpet until race time.
Off to the race track we went... it was 32 degrees when I started running.... yes very very cold! I think it took forever for them to start. There was an annoucer guy who was saying something but no one could understand him at all and also there was about 8000 runners there. The last race I did and only other one, there was 2000 people. SO this was much much larger. People were packed like sardines everywhere. I found my way finally to the startline and started about 5 minutes after the official time started. There was a santa that ran the whole half in his suit and I kept up with him for the good part of the race. At first when I started i didnt think i was going too fast but then i looked at the Garmin that Alex let me borrow and it said something crazy like 8:30! I was like hmmm I feel like im going a 10! Anyways, the race was pretty straight forward. My father told me that I would be running near some really pretty houses. I didnt pay any attention to the homes around me because I was focusing on me and how my body felt and making sure that no one ran into me or vis versa. Alex and my Dad met me at the 5 mile mark where I shed my gloves and jacket. I felt better after that. My poor dad was looking so hard for me that he missed me! I saw him looking and I ran so close to him i could have touched him! Alex saw me and was shooting a video.. hopefully I dont look too horrible in the video.
After seeing them, I was off again and got out my first gu. (its like liquid candy) I nursed that thing for a bit and also drank up my gatorade for a bit. At all the stations all they had was water so I got that at 4 out of the 6 stations. They were there every 2 miles. The other two stations i didnt stop because i felt pretty ok. On mile 10.7, i got the biggest side stich ever and knew I couldnt run it out so i had to walk for about 15 seconds or so. Thankfully it went away and i was off again. I had a few sayings for when things seemed tough or there was a big hill or things like that. My first thought was.. If Alex can swim 1.2 miles, then bike 56 miles and THEN run this far, I can surly just run the length that she did. Another thing I was thinking is not appropriate for the blog. It had something to do with people moving out of the way.
About a mile away from the finish line, the marathoners went one way and I went another way to the finish. I felt bad for them because I have been in thier shoes, BUT they did chose to do it. I also saw a lot of people who were running in memory of others and to support others. That was pretty cool! So back to the race.... about mile 12.4 or so I started seeing signs for beer. I was so excited because of course a nice ice cold beer is delish after a long hard run. So Im getting really close to the finish line and then they have everything very narrow. It was hard to pass others and just go all out near the end. I did finish and was like THANK GOODNESS! I then went to go find something to eat or drink or something. They had water! and GREEN bananas and marathon bars. I gave back my clip and took a metal and got a space blanket and went on my search for my beer. As I was passing the vendors, who had nothing good... Bread and crakers I was getting a bit discouraged. Thes was nothing like my marathon day when they had pizza and subway and massages, etc. I had to stop to streatch because I was tight and then went to find my welcome party. I couldnt find them anywhere. Alex goes and talkes to the person on the stage and asks them to announce my name to find me. And they did! And of course I was right there all this time. HA! So we started talking and I was saying how disapointed I was that there really wasnt anything good and about the beer and there it was! A small table away from everyone. I went there and got my cup and was so happy and ready to head back to the car.
Once we got into the car my left foot cramped up so i had to take off my shoe. O well. We made it home and got ready to go to qdoba for lunch.
We met my grandparents, aunt, mom and of course dad and alex there and had lunch. On my way over there, i wasnt feeling too good and rolled down the window. I got my food and halfway through i had to leave. (nothing happened) but I came back and felt better. I think my body was in shock or something. We had a good time at lunch and ended up making our way back to my parents to pick up Vals dogs and head up to Greensboro again. We stopped a little over halfway for gas and a diet coke. I was thursty and the first diet coke i had was not tasty... something was wrong with it. We did make it home and I dropped off Alex, and the dogs. I then got a long nap in and here I am now waiting on Daniel for dinner... Im about to eat my arm im so hungry!
The cats are all looking for my attention and craving to be pet... they sure did miss me!
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