I had a plan! My plan was to start out nice and easy ~ something I am NOT good at. I forced myself to hold back and not worry about those passing me (even when I had to stop and tie my shoe when the lace kept hitting my other leg and I knew it was too loose to begin with!) I kept telling myself to worry about ME for I knew I could do this if I just stuck to my plan. I started getting antsy when I knew I was close to the turn around and started letting myself go a bit faster but really wanted to make sure I had enough left to let it all go at the end. I had planned on taking in only water at each station but only a few gulps as I always tend to drink too much then have stomach issues. I stuck to my guns and did just that ~ only a few drinks then dumped the rest on me. I had a gel just past the turn around and started increasing my speed. Around mile 5 I realized that my tempo runs had all been 5 miles and I was able to push 8 minute miles so I started picking it up a bit more at each mile marker. This worked like a charm 'cuz I was passing people left and right and was only passed by one guy who I was able to keep in my sites until just the finish. When I realized I had ONE mile left I told myslef that is nothing. I can do anything for ONE mile ~ especially when I looked at my watch and realized I had 8 minutes to finish in 2 hours. For the next 3/4 mile I looked at the person directly in front of me and told myself I was going to pass them and did just that...until I came to yellow shirt guy (who I now know as Jeff.) I had Jeff in my sites but when I got to him he was staying with me. Soooo, I decided Jeff was just going to have to help me get to the finish ~ I looked at him and said "we're making this in under 2 hours!" He smiled back and said, "That's the goal." I looked ahead and said "Oh, we're going to make it!" The finish line came into site about 1/4 mile ahead. I saw Jeff look at his watch. "It looks so far away" he said. "Nope, it's right there..come on!" We picked up the pace. As it got closer we kept getting faster and I realized I wanted to puke. I saw we were going to cut it close so I gave it everything I had and started sprinting even faster and Jeff was right there with me when we crossed the finish line! I turned around and congratulated him then swallowed down the feeling that I was going to throw up and went to find the water.

I am so happy with what I accomplished but next time I think I can push it just a bit more in the beginning and still be good to go at the end! I may have held back a bit too much but I had so much fun AND met my goal so I can't really say it was a limiter!

After getting water I walked down the road a bit to meet my friend who I knew was coming in soon. I started stretching as I waited then I saw Jeff coming. We introduced ourselves and he thanked me. I asked him what for as all I could think of was how he had helped me get to that finish line the way I did. He asked me if I had seen one of the girls in front of us ~ the one that had the wing tattoo on the back of her neck. I told him no as I tend to get tunnel vision at the end of a race. He looked me in the eye and said "either way, that girl may have had wings but YOU were my angel today." That made my day even more special. I thanked him and congratulated him again then off he went to try and find his son and I turned to see my friend coming in!


Nothing!


The only 2 reasons I didn't give this race a higher rating was they had run out of a lot of the food when I went to get something (which to their credit wasn't until after I had found Mike and Sammi)and there really weren't any volunteers or people cheering you on along the course. Two somewhat petty reasons but still ~ it's motivation! :)