Happiness, tears, friends, pain ... ACCOMPLISHMENT!

We did it...we ran in the Women's Only 5k yesterday and it was FABULOUS! I woke up Sat AM before the alarm went off. I was so anxious and nervous and I could barely eat. It was all I could do to get a banana down. I took a few sips of Diet Dr P just to get some caffeine in me and that was all I could take. I am not sure WHy I was so nervous...the race was a 5k...3.1 miles...I do that or more on almost every run. But I was so keyed up and anxious. I went to pee twice before I left the house.

I picked up ET at a little after 8 and we got to the race about 8:25 (it was to start at 9:30). We found a spot and walked over to where all the festivities were going on. It was so cool...everything was a sea of pink...pink shirts...pink balloons...pink tents....PINK PINK PINK. It was amazing. And I don't know HOW but we found some friends so that was cool. We walked around a little and visited the Port A Jon's lol. ET & AK were such dear friends and agreed to run the race in Honor of my Mom (who is a breast cancer survivor from 1991 and is currently battling it again after finding the cancer had come back in 2005 and had spread to her liver & bones). I felt kind of silly asking them if they would run for her...and asking if they would wear a sign on their backs...but these dear ladies didn't hesitate a second when I asked...they were more than willing and I think honored to do it. So I made some neat sign for our backs at work and the 3 of us wore them during the race. It was wonderfl.

Before the race began, we caught up with our running group and stretched...and then it was time to line up. ET & I got in the 11 min mile area. I knew I belonged SOMEWHERE in there but wasn't quite sure it was 11...although I knew it was not the 7 min area. We wanted to be sort of near the front so we weren't caught in with the slower people, so I think we made a good choice.

The crappy part was that it was not a total chip timed race. We DID get timing chips but they only calculated when we crossed the pad at the finish line...there was no pad at the start line to tell our EXACT time we crossed the START line. How ridiculous is that? So my final time would be from when the gun went off till when I crossed the finish line...even though I knew it would take about 10-15 secs from when the gun went off until ET and I even got to go over the START line. UGH what ev...I planned on starting my watch when I crossed over the start line. About 5 mins before the start we saw ET's hubbie and my hubbie. It was so great that they were there and it made me feel better to see hubbie...I was sad OG was not there (she had gone the the mtns the night before w/ her MeeMaw and Poppi) but I knew I would see her soon.

The national anthem was sung...it made me cry....I gave ET a quick hug and OFF we went when therace officially started. Man, the course really was tough...hills galore. There were what? 2,000 women participating? Thank goodness many of them were walkers and were BEHIND us. But at one point maybe .5 miles in we had to all cross a foot bridge...no more than 5 feet wide I would say....so there was a bit of a log jam there, and that slowed us down, which I was bummed about. BUT, I was having people run up to me and say "OH Mrs J, we love your Mom" or "I had Mrs J as a teacher, she's the best, how is she?" This was all as I was running and they had seen the sign on my back. It was so cool! It made me even more proud of my Mom and so glad that I was running this race for her.

So at the 1 mile mark, amazingly enough ET and I were stil running together...and when we got our spilt time at 1 mile it was about 10:10 by the race clock and 10 mins by our watches!! We looked at each other in amazement as the girl called out the time and we were like "ROCK ON"!! WOOT! Running at a 10 min mile was great. WOO Soon were the hills and that is when ET dusted me...she is good! I just kept looking at her and telling myself to keep going. There was a water station at 1.5 but that was the ONLY water station the whole way. UGHH Thank goodness it was only about 58-60 degrees out...and of course I had my trusty water bottle with me! ;)

I was tired at the 1.5 mile spot b/c I had just done a big hill....but the next part was downhill so that was good. I kept my mind occupied by thinking about all of my awesome friends who were running in this race...and most of them running in their 1st race. And I thought about everyone who has cancer or has been touched by it....seeing the survivors running in the race (they had on blue shirts instead of the pink the rest of us wore) really got to me and made me really connect with why I was there. Sure it was to have fun...sure it was to run a race and maybe improve my time...but mostly I was there b/c I could be and I could run for those who cannot. It made me feel good.

SO in the final stretch there was another big hill at the end...it was awful. You had to basically run up a road that had a median in the middle....pass the finish line on the other side of the road then loop around and do a u-turn then run downhill to the finish. I told myself I would bust out at the end and sprint like I did at July 4th. But I couldn't. Hubbie & ET's hubbie were apparently there cheering but I didn't see or hear them...AK's hubbie and some other friends were there and I DID see them so that was good b/c I heard them cheering. But that last hill KILLED me and I just had to keep the pace I was going and could not sprint. But I saw the clock when I was about 10 secs out and couldn't believe it....I had an awesome time!!! When I crossed the line the clocked time was 32:10 and my watch said 32 on the dot!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT I shaved 3 mins 50 secs off my July 4th time!!! I was thrilled...I just wanted to beat 34 mins and I DID IT!! ET did awesome too. She was ahead of me by about 45 secs I think...the girl can FLY!!

And AK...wow, I am so proud of her. I think she said her goal was to finish in under 45 mins (which I totally knew she could do) and she did....it made me cry to see her crossing the finish line b/c I was so proud!

And my online running bloggy friend Amanda did amazing too! We met b/c she somehow found my blog through another blog and noticed we were in the same city...then she saw me talking about running class and wanted more info...and voila...she started running and we met and that is it! She took a picture of us after the race so I will have to get that from her and then post it here.

Sooo...we did it....we ran...we cried....we fought for a cause...I had a little knee pain the night after...but it was all worth it!! I love my running friends! Thanks for inspiring me!!