Well... I did it! I kept the faith, and finished the race. And let me tell you... it took a LOT of faith to finish this race! I totally thought that at any moment someone would jump out of the bushes and say, "PYSCH ~ You're on candid camera!"
It started when I woke up at 4:57am with killer cramps! Oh no you didn't! I was in so much freaking pain, but knew I had to go on, so I loaded up on the profen. Headed out to the race site a few hours later, and it totally began POURING RAIN. By the time the gun went off it was only sprinkling, but if you know me in real life there are a few things I don't like but one thing I really don't like is being wet with my clothes on. ICK!
Whatever... I'm tough and I had to do this. When I pressed shuffle on my iPod, guess what song started playing... you can stand under my umbrella ella ella eh eh eh. Rhianna was totally mocking me, and I could have SWORN that my iPod some how sensed what I was going through and played songs accordingly.
Before I left that morning I set a goal of finishing the race in 1 hour and 10 minutes. I did the majority of my training on a treadmill, so I assumed I could finish 6 miles in at least an hour, but wanted wiggle room. I did a google search and found out that when I ran the Cap 10k in 2001 I ran it in 1 hour 12 minutes and 48 seconds.
When I hit the 2nd mile of my race, the time they called out was 17 minutes. Holy crap... I am running MUCH faster than I thought, and assumed that I would more than likely slow down considerably. Then the next mile, I had gotten faster. And the next mile the bottom.dropped.out.of.the.sky. OMG. My mascara was stinging my eyes and my iPod was singing...OHHHHH I've been traveling on this road too long, too long just trying to find my way back home...no doubt!
I kept on and astonishingly finished the race in 58 minutes and 9 seconds! Can I get a what what? It would have been 58 minutes flat, but I stopped for a couple of seconds to program my iPod to play What have you done today to make you feeeeel proud so I could end the race Biggest Loser style! Lame, I know, but I could NOT be happier with myself. Me thinks there will be MANY more races in my future and I will definitely try and plan around my circumstances a little better!
{thank you ALL for your kind words of encouragement. i thought about your comments while i ran, and they cheered me on! xoxo}
