Race, Run, and other Fun

Hey Bloggy World.  I have been so busy lately, thinking about all the things I need to do, that I didn't possibly have time to write this blog until now, midnight more than two weeks after my race! HA!

I am sure by now you have heard little snippets of all the crazy events that happened to us during our 2 day event! Readers Digest Version- go!

1. Rolled down window, window wouldn't roll back up, duct taped it.  NO JOKE.  We duct taped that mamma jamma and went on our merry way!

2. Went past our exit and arrived at the hotel much later than anticipated.  The five star hotel called Relax Inn- with the Knights Club, Bar and Grille right next door.  I slept for a grand total of 45 minutes that night. UGH!

3. Got to the starting line, late (lost again...) Our injured runner was first up, and sprinted to the finish. AWESOME

4. First exchange went off without a hitch.

5.  Runner 3 waited her turn, said to us "you better be there waiting for me when I finish"

6.  We weren't there.  Damn directions had the ending point at the beginning of the directions, and we thought it was the starting point.  Waited forty five minutes for my turn, and then got a phone call saying we were at the wrong exchange.

7. Got to the right place, I jumped out full speed ahead, and went for it.  Girl beside of me passed me, then I passed her.  We said nothing to each other except, whew, glad that hill was over- then we saw the mountain. No JOKE- I could not see anything in front of me, except for dirt and hill.  Not a single female ran that whole thing.  I think I took 20 steps and decided I would join the other ladies.  I had to lean forward to keep from rolling down the hill.  I actually yelled "When is this ever going to end."  I got a thumbs up from the cute blond in a tennis skirt who was strugglin' just like me.

8.  Sprinted to the finish to find out we had a flat tire.  Kind runner stayed with us and helped put on our spare.

9. Meet Van 2 at the major exchange and watch three vans get stuck in mud, and wait for our runner in the downpour.

10.  Try to go to the next exchange, but had to reduce speed to 35 because our van was going wobbledy wobbledy woo!  Find a gas station with a shop, and dude wouldn't take our money.... Went a couple of miles down the road to some seriously nice people.  They "fixed" our spare- tightened it up.  We made it all the way to mcdonalds- which was literally over the small hill and the next turn- maybe 100 feet away- and the van was going WOBBLEDY WOBBLEDY WOBBLE.  Drove right back down and oh- tire is dry rotted. UGH!  Patched our hole, put the other tire back on, and didn't even charge us.  My sissy in law was THROWING money at them, and they wouldn't take it. They ended up paying us- we were fortunate enough to see their mechanic's crack.

11. Went to the school to sleep- HA- we waited, and waited, and waited, for the other team to arrive.  Saw poop on the floor in the stall.  Vomited a little in my mouth!

12. FOG FOG FOG- Couldn't see in front of my face it was so foggy. My 2nd run- slow and steady pace-middle of the night- twisted my ankle, stepped in water, scared to death because hardly anyone else was around and corn fields were right next to me. (Children of the corn, anyone)  Oh, and I was running ON the road- no shoulder, definitely no sidewalk.

13.More people ran.  We were tired, hungry, and cranky, and all just wanted some sleep.

14.  We got to the next major exchange, four of us slept in the van, three of us outside.  I got two hours of sleep on and off there.  The porta-potties were so far away, and it was so cold, I contemplated just peeing my pants and cleaning it up in the morning.  But Jules was sharing a seat bench with me, so that wouldn't work.

15.  Daylight came and we were all antsy to get the hell outta dodge, and get our last run over with.

16.  So we waited for van 2.  And we waited.  And we waited some more.  There were like 5 teams left, we finally see our team, and off we go!

17.  I think I cried when I saw everyone, including the very injured Jules run to the finish line. 

18.  We drive to the next exchange, and get a little lost.  Wait for our super fast, running buddy to get there.  And wait, and wait, and wait.  9 miles and another 45 minutes later, we finally see her. (she should have only ran 5 or so).  

19. And I cried a little again, when I saw Brittany with her hubby and two kids running with her.

20.  I wait a couple of minutes for my turn and sprint out of there.  My goal was to sprint til I couldn't anymore.  My plan was thwarted by a city, intersections, and traffic lights.  My last run was only 3.7 miles, but the signs were few and far in between, and there was literally not another Ragnar runner in my view in front or behind me.  We were one of the last groups because of all the setbacks.  My pace was great on this run- if you take out the three minutes where I had to wait, and wait, and wait for lights.  I may or may not have broken the law a bit and crossed streets before it was my turn.  Oopsie.  Again, may or may not.

20. Our last runner came in, but van 2 wasn't there because they had to start running before our runner finished her run, to keep things moving along.  But it didn't matter, because Mary's little girls and hubby were all at our finish line.  I really did shed some tears at this one.  FINALLY, it was over, for us at least.

21.  We eat pizza (first MEAL we had all day,) do a little shopping, catch up with the rest of the team, put our boa's on, and wait for runner 12 to come running in.  I can't tell you how giddy I got when I heard 143 coming in- there we see Tammy and her husband Ed running towards us.  The gals all pass through the finish line.  We did it.  We made it.  I will never do that again.  Ever.

22.  So I signed up for a half marathon in November.

HAHAHAHA!  So, do I still hate running?  No!  Do I LIKE running?  NO, not at all.  Running is still very hard for me.  I actually ran 4 miles today, and had a terrible pace.  But the fact that I might be able to run/walk for 13 miles, is quite intriguing to me.  I just want to see what excuses I will try to come up with while trying to talk myself out of finishing the race.