Here's the first part of the review:
Friday night, we met some friends at Larry's Pizza and carb loaded, then headed to Target for some Mole Skin (life saver). After we arrived home, I took a long warm Epsom bath (my 2nd of the day) and then checked on my race pile one last time. I set two alarms for 5:10am and was in bed by 10pm. I thought I'd have a hard time sleeping, but after saying my long list of prayers, I was out like a light! That is...until 4am. I usually get up at 4am to get ready for work, so I guess it's just natural for me to wake up at that time... I never went back to sleep. I laid in bed till about 5 and then hopped in the shower. I was a tad nervous, but tried not to think about it too much. I took my vitamins, drank lots of water, and made a 1/2 of a pb sandwich to eat later. We took a few before pictures and headed out the door!
A Before Picture...
On the way to the race, I ate my pb sandiwch and took my vitamins. Blah blah blah... Went to the bathroom twice (not to worry, no stomach issues!)...blah blah blah. Now, onto the start of the race!
I kissed hubs by and my eyes teared up - I was SO excited! But, I quickly dried my eyes and got in the last corral before the walkers. This was the corral for 2:00 - 2:45 finishers. I thought, "hmm, that could be me" and "there's no way I'm getting in with the walkers!". After waiting about 3 minutes from the time the gun went off, it was our turn! We walked up to the mat, then started running! I hit start on my Garmin and play on my iPod and was greeted with the song "Bust A Move" by Young MC!!!! I thought - Wow! This is definitely the song to start with!
The beginning of the race was a little crowded. I ran around people and tried not to bump into others, all the while trying not to go out too fast. I hit mile 1 and thought hmm, I should probably try to slow it down a bit! To be honest, I was full of adrenaline and felt great. So, I kept trucking along. I looked over to my right and who did I see? MY GRANDMA!!! She had told me that she wasn't going to be there and so it really surprised me to see her standing there all by herself! I ran over to the side of the road and waved like an idiot and shouted "Grandma!!" and bless her heart, she tried to take a picture of me, but ended up taking a snapshot of the people behind me! LOL It made my day to see her out there!
At the first water stop (1.5 miles), I grabbed the first cup I saw and took a sip to find out that it was GATORADE!! Ugh! I threw that cup and grabbed the next to find out it too was Gatorade. That's when I noticed that the volunteers were saying "Gatorade" and "Water", so I took a cup from a kid who said "Water" and drank a few gulps of it and kept running.
Around Mile 2, people started spreading out some. I was running with a group of women who I knew from training and they were doing the "4&1" just like me! I tried to stay with them, but they were a little too fast for me and I lost them around mile 3. At mile 3, I took my 2nd Gu (I took the first before the starting line). Not alot happened on Mile 3, I did see a sign along the way that said "Run Like You Stole Something!" which made me laugh. I missed my watch beeping at me at Mile 3, but looked down shortly after and realized that I had just ran my fastest 5k ever - somewhere around 35 minutes I think! Awesome! I took another sip of water at Mile 3 and looked up to see the dreaded hill at mile 4. That's when the girl behind me said "Now's the time when it's okay to look down!" and we all just laughed. I laughed alot during the race and I wore a smile the whole entire time!
I trudged up most of that hill, but ended up walking the top part of it. It didn't get me down though, I knew my family would be at 4.5 miles and I was ready to throw my gloves at hubs - my hands were getting a little warm! So, at 4.5 miles, I threw my gloves, smiled for hubs who was taking a picture, then smiled for the photographer at the other side of the course and looked for my parents who were no where to be found! My heart sank, but I kept trucking along.
4.5ish Miles, before throwing the gloves (yes, I tend to run with my arms a little high, I tried to work on that):
Then, at mile 6, I took another Gu and some more water and then Brandi came up beside me. We exchanged hellos (I think?) and then I looked up at another incline and saw my parents and sister at the top! Of course! My parent's would be at the top of a hill! ha! I wanted to walk, but said no way, I'm not walking in front of them! So, I kept running and smiled really big! They took pictures and then I rounded the corner. That made my day and I got chills running through me - I was SO happy! I kept running and low and behold... here comes the Yukon with the windows rolled down and my family sticking their heads out the window screaming "Go Mrs. Mess!" LOL To say that I was the happiest girl alive, would be an understatement!!
I don't remember alot of the next few miles... I just remember running and looking at everything around me and thinking I've ran this before, I can do this, this is so much fun, I'm running a half marathon!!!! I was over joyed!
Wow! That covers the first part of the race! Next, I'll tell you about the last half of the race - the part where it got a weee bit interesting! ha!
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