Friday night Jonna, Bryan, my dad, William and I went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was a yummy way to "carb-load".
We woke up at 5:45... several of us set alarms because I was super afraid that we might sleep through it. I had laid out everything the night before so that it was ready to go. I decided to put my contacts in because I didn't think that there was any way for me to run in my glasses. I have bad enough depth perception as it is. Due to my sensitive eyes, I didn't put sunscreen on my face. Sweat burns enough as it is and I was terrified I would get sunscreen in my eyes and it would drive me insane or hurt my eyes.
We got to the DRC clubhouse to park about 6:30ish. I was meeting some members of my group at 7:00 and I wasn't sure how long it would take for us to park and everything... although it ended up not being a problem. William and Bryan walked down to the lake to find Jonna, who had been there since 5:00am setting up everything. The race started at Winfrey Point which is on White Rock Lake. The course was about 10 miles around the lake and 3 miles off the lake. The course also doubled back on itself so we ran past the start line twice after starting off there.
My dad and I found my group members and walked down to Winfrey Point... about half a mile. We went up and everyone decided to make bathroom stops. For anyone who has ran a long distance race, you know how important of a step this is. I actually have discovered though that eventually the "need to pee" goes away after a while. ;) The race started at 8:00am. It was about 65 and sunny then which was super nice.
We started the race, which is always a little anti-climactic because they say go and then you just stand there... waiting for everyone in front of you to start moving. My little group set in at our 12:30 pace trying to find our groove and get settled into the flow of runners. We had a super tough time because we got stuck right in the middle of the 2:40 run/walk pace group. They would run faster than us... pass us... then stop right in front of us... then we would pass them. This continued for the first 4 miles. We finally stopped for a stretch break and some fuel and let them get ahead. Thank goodness.
The next 3 or 4 miles went by quickly. We were mostly shaded and stayed at our pace only walking through the water stops to take a few sips and keep running. By the time we reached mile 8 or so we were starting to drag. We were on the back side of the lake, the wind died, and the sun was right over us. It was probably 80 degrees by then and it started taking it's toll on us. Miles 9 through 11 I focused on making it to the next water stop. Mile 11 I started feeling like I couldn't go anymore. It was so hot and every time the sun touched me I felt like I would melt. The path briefly left the lake for mile 11-12.5. I always get discouraged then because it makes it seem like you are so far from where you are going. When you are on the lake, you can see right where you are going, which makes things easier. Mile 12.5 we had to run past the spot that we normally start and stop at on our training runs. It felt like we should be done. I was mentally done. We walked and jogged the last 2.5 miles. Thank goodness for my pace leader and his wife for sticking with me. They are so awesome! The finish line was around a big curve and I wanted so badly just to see it and know I was running to it. Finally I could see the top of it sticking up over the hill and Winfrey Point so I took off.
I made it through the finish line where Jonna, Bryan, William, and my dad were waiting and plopped down on the ground. And there I stayed for 20 minutes.
Afterwards I had a nice orange snow cone before we walked back to the car.
My dad took us to Papasitos for lunch. I had a mojito and fajitas! Yum. Then we made a trip to Whole Foods to pick up some cupcakes which I had been craving for quite some time!
It was a great run and I'm so glad I did it. I never thought I'd be able to do this. But I did!
