Jen and I first headed down to the expo on Friday night (aka my birthday) to pick up our packets. The expo was pretty cool... lots of vendors and people... the energy was high. After we picked up our stuff, we walked around the expo and then sorted out our corral issue. When I signed up for this race I had to google "how long does it take to run a 10k"... apparently one hour was a bit ambitious for my first race. After working that out we headed back to the house for some dinner and birthday celebration.The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to get down to the beach and find parking. I made my oatmeal to go because I was so freaking nervous I couldn't even eat and that is never a problem for me! Well we were basically the first people there, so we had out choice of parking spots... so we had some time to relax while I tried to choke down my oatmeal aka Elmer's Glue. Finally we decided to make our way into the convention center to get our costumes judged and hang out. Let me tell you one thing I was nervous about was the freaking porta pottys... I hate using portapottys... so much to my surprise, the bathrooms in the convention center were open. Praise the lord... I was so happy!
We finally made our way to the start line after relaxing inside for a while. The energy was electric and everyone was so stoked to be there. It was so fun to look at the different costumes I almost forgot I was running a 10k. After like 5 corrals ahead of us, we were finally ready to go! My stomach was turning so much I could have lost my Elmer's glue... but thankfully I kept it together.Once we started we were trotting along and dodging around people like crazy. The first .8 was a straight shot to the beach, so I was determined to keep it up for the first mile. I had come into this race hoping to trot at least half, while walking the rest. So after the first mile we walked and then proceed to trot again. I'd say right under 2 miles, I noticed my fingers and hands were swollen to the point it was tough to make a fist and had to loosen my watch... that's about the time I realized I had no water that day... only coffee. Greatttt, dehydration... I am like the queen of drinking water and totally forgot to drink water. Ugh. But we kept up a walking/trotting pace... I threw my plan of run a mile/walk a mile out the window and just followed what felt right. I wasn't trying to die on my first race... so I just went with the flow.
After running on the boardwalk for a little bit we jumped back on the road... this was the time we saw Mom and Dad, which was quite a pick me up. I was already getting tired and walking, but seeing them put a pep in my step. (Gotta look alive for the parents!) Shortly after seeing them we hit a much needed water station where I grabbed two cups of Gatorade in hopes to combat the dehydration. Then I proceed to down the Gatorade in like 15 seconds.... not a good idea. We started to trot a little and I felt like I was going to vomit... and a mixture of Elmer's glue oatmeal and lemon Gatorade would not have been pretty.After some time walking, I managed to get my stomach under control, but then got a cramp. Awesome. It just kept getting better. I was really trying not to complain, but come on! Once we made the turn back onto the Boardwalk it added a pep in my step since I knew the finish was coming. They also had some funny, stupid Halloween joke signs that helped to distract me. It was about this time I started noticing my right hip feeling funky... this is something that never hurt before so I was a bit confused. When I told just my hip hurt even though I've never had problems, she reminded me I have never run 6 miles before... good point. Well that nagging hip didn't help the final stretch to the finish line, but once I saw the finish I was pumped. I could hear the music and smell Blue Moon in the air. I wanted to sprint out the final stretch, but was really tired... and faster paced trot would have to do.
I tell ya, crossing that finish line was quite a rush. It was such a great feeling of accomplishment to finish... no I didn't win the race, set any records, or even run the entire thing, but I did it! As soon as I finished I almost forgot about all the struggle it took to get there and just enjoyed the moment. I had a goal of finishing the race in under 1:30... and I did it! My official time was 1:22:17... woot woot! That's about a 13 minute mile... not horrible. I'm actually pretty proud of that... I mean I gotta start somewhere!Soon after the finish, we walked (well Jen walked, I wobbled) our way right to the beer tent. Us James girls get right to the point! Eventually met up with the parents and got some food. They had chili with no vegetarian option which was a bummer... but at least the bread bowl was good. We waited around for the announcement of the costume contest winners... much to our disappointment we did not win. Boo, I want a recount! But our costumes were for sure a hit! We are already planning our costumes for next year... they are definitely going to be fly ;)
All in all, this race was an awesome first race! I had so much fun. As always my personal cheerleader, Jen, was a huge part in this race. Her constant encouragement was totally necessary and helped push me to the finish. The race was awesomely organized and had some great goodies... tech shirt, winter hat, metal water bottle, grocery bag... score! Jen said don't get too excited, not all races are like this... for every nice tech shirt there is a crappy cotton shirt... bummer!
After hobbling my butt an extra mile back to the car, we went home and I took an EPIC nap. Oooo, it felt so good... I hardly got my costume off before I hit the bed and passed out. It was the best sleep ever. Once I woke up from my nap, I had a moment of... uh oh, I can't move my legs... I managed to get things moving. We celebrated later at Big Sam's and then called it an early night.I definitely dealt with a lot of soreness right after the race and then for the next couple days. There was no moving fast for this girl. I know it will take more time and training to improve and not be so sore, but I'm ready for it. I am officially HOOKED! I cannot wait to do it again. :)
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