my t-shirt
My race number and chip timer
that I wore around the left ankle
Sorry it took so long to update you. I have been extremely busy. I have finished the three quilts for the retirement parties. Made two quilts for Project Linus and now I'm working on a quilt for a birthday. Not to mention running a race, visiting Grammie and Pa, working on a Power Point for my Dad's open house at work and being asked to be the Nursery Coordinator at church for the summer.
Okay, so the race was last Sat. on the 15th. The day before I went with the 8th graders to Bruneau Sand Dunes. After hiking around a small lake I hiked to the top of the tallest dune in North America. It stands at 470 feet. I knew that I would be sore for the race, but I also figured that the race would help work out some of the kinks. Friday afternoon we had to go pick up are race packets, so we went down to Ann Morrison Park and stood in line. First, we walked up to the area that said 5K and we were told we needed to go look at our number on the U-Haul truck. So, we went and found our number and stood back in line to get our race tag. Then, we went over the table to pick up our goodies. We got a coupon for a free ice cream cone, and a loaf of bread at one of the specialty bakeries. After this, we stood in line to get our ankle time. I had never worn an ankle bracelet before and I'm glad I was legally free when I did. This chip tells the people when we've started the race and when we finished.
Michelle, my race partner, picked me up at 7 AM and we went down to catch the shuttle to the starting line. I really wished I had my camera with me as there were fascinating people. One man had a blue tattoo on his elbow and I commented to Michelle how much that would hurt. After looking at it for a moment we both realized it was a hinge. Really?! The announce would tell us it was 25 min. before the race and then 5 min. later would tell us we still had 25 min. After awhile people started moving toward the starting line. By unspoken agreement, Michelle and I gravitated toward the back so we wouldn't be run over. The place that we started had the 5K and 10K. We later found out there were 1,700 of us at the gate. The weird thing was there was no announcement that the race was starting. We just heard the race gun go off and people started moving. It was so cool to be near the back and see the line of people down the street. It was a relatively cool morning and for that we were grateful. I didn't think I was too sore until I started walking up inclines and then I noticed the muscles from the day before were a little sore, but I was able to work them out slightly. We never did find the mile post for 1, so we walked quite a ways before we realized we had to be coming up on mile 2. At the point, we heard a person to our left yell, "Marathon leader on your left." There was a person on a bike announcing the marathon leader ( who was in a wheelchair) that was passing us and we hadn't hit mile two. Now, this person had started 45 min. earlier and was going to be at the halfway point at our end line, but still. Then, about a min. later, I heard, "1/2 marathon leader on the left." By this time I felt like a fool. I wasn't even to mile 2 and both of the guys had passed me. Let's just say that when I do my 1/2 marathon I won't even be close to that fast. Finally, Michelle and I hit mile 2 and we got a cup of water. At this point we could hear the crowd at the finish line because it was a horseshoe loop and we could hear the people's names being called as they crossed the finish line. Turning into the park and seeing all those people there cheering was so cool. I got to the finish line and didn't realize that someone there would take off my ankle timer for me. I bent down to remove it and almost couldn't get up because I was so sore. We walked over to the food table and there were hot baked potatoes with butter and sour cream because it was the Idaho Potato run. I passed on the potatoes, but go a banana, bagel, grapes, and chocolate milk. Then, we went over and got a brief massage which felt wonderful. After we ate, we went and collected our t-shirts.
I looked up my time later that weekend and I finished in 48 min. 38 sec. I was 445 our of 542. Not too bad for my first race and the fact that we walked the entire way. I think I'm now addicted. Next year for this race I'll compete in the 10K. For now, I just need to focus on the 1/2 marathon and maybe throw some more 5K in the mix. :-)
