Saturday, September 4, 2010

Still Alive!

I made it! 0500 this morning, I stepped off to run 13.1 miles for the Air Force Deployed Location Marathon! I feel like an old lady right now, but am VERY proud of myself! My finishing time was 2 hrs & 10 minutes, and it was 13.2 miles according to those with fancy GPS watches! And that was starting in the very back of the pack of 1,000 runners! (The timer started in the front....grrr....) My goal was to finish in less than 2.5 hours, which I did, and I only walked for a few seconds 2 or 3 times (...there were hills, wth? Where did hills come from on this base?!?!)

Anywho, this was the first race I've ever done, and it was quite an experience! It's also the first time I've run further than 9 miles... I think these little Cliff carb-gels "shot" thingys are a Godsend! I "sipped" on one throughout the whole race, strawberry flavored! Yum!

Aside from stations passing those out, there were water & Gatorade cups & bottles being handed out. The tree hugger in me refused to throw a bottle or Styrofoam cup on the ground, so I made my running buddy do the dirty deed and toss it aside. Cpl Courtney, the 30yr old chain smoker kept me from walking anymore than I did, and stayed with me. He was one of my training/running buddies too, and I'm glad he ran.
It's almost 2am on Sunday morning now, and I can walk only because at race end, I crashed in my bed with my heating pad, a Flexerol (non-narc muscle relaxer) and bottles upon bottles of Gatorade and water...fortunately, work was almost nonexistent besides 2 launches, so I slept through most of my shift with my feet elevated so my knees wouldn't ache so bad!

I suggest anyone who even remotely enjoys running a little bit try to find a race to run! My mom was my motivation, knowing she can run 5ks and such, I can too!
New running shoes are definitely in order, as the Nike's I've had are almost 2 years old...forgot sunglasses and sunscreen too, since we left camp at 4am...
OH! I forgot, someone kept track, out of 115 females, I finished 33rd!! I thought that was pretty cool! :)

Next task: College starts Monday! Got my books, time to study how to study!!! (No, seriously)
The medal my Mom sent on the left & the A/F medal on the right! YAY!