We were stuck in traffic for awhile on the way into Charleston (something about 40,000 people running the race causes traffic. Odd, eh?), and I REALLY had to potty. Bad! So, as we were stopped beside some porta potties lining the road (for the following morning's race, of course), I hopped out to potty really quick hoping to get back out to the car before the cop at the light decided to let our lane drive.
Well, half way through my, uh, potty break, I heard cars moving. Sad times. I came out to new cars in front of the porta potty parade, and my cousin's car nowhere in site. I wonder what the people in the cars thought about the girl that randomly came out of a porta potty with a confused look on her face. Anyhoo, I ran down the sidewalk trying to find her car, and thought that maybe they just went on to the expo, which was only about a block or so away. So I give them a call, and finally found them (yay!). They had pulled up on a sidewalk the next block down and was waiting for me. Apparently Cindy tried waiting for me at the porta potties, but multiple cops came running towards her car in an attempt to get her to move, so she had to drive on. Of course, this all happened in a span of maybe 3 minutes. Fun times!
Oh, and I can officially say that I've used a sparkling-clean porta potty! The seat even had plastic wrapped around it, saying it was newly sanitized. God bless the porta potty sanitizer people. I couldn't do it, I'm afraid. But I'm glad someone did!
I had another interesting porta potty experience the next morning before the race. This one included me wearing a tutu in the teeny tiny porta potty. But we won't go into that experience. *shudder*
Anyways, the run was fun, however not my best at all. Lack of sleep (I randomly woke up at 1:15AM and didn't get back to sleep), starting the race an hour late (yes, they started an hour late - more on that in the next paragraph), standing around for almost 3 hours before the race ever started, not eating for 4 hours before the race, a crazy sharp cramp, and some lady issues didn't make it my best time at all. At. all.
Remember how I said they started the race an hour late? Yeah. Apparently there were some issues with the shuttle buses taking people from the Charleston side of the bridge (finish) to the Mt. Pleasant side (start) and people were still on buses at like 7:30 (30 minutes before the race). Then, the buses had to clear the bridge before we could start. So, instead of starting the race at 8:00, they started at 9:00. Which means since we got there round 7:30, we had to stand around for an hour and a half before we started. We also stood in line for the buses for about an hour before we loaded our bus to be taken to the start. I think I was mentally done before we ever started. lol
So, my time. My goal was under an hour. Last year, I did it in 1 hour and 3 minutes. This year, not so much. I finished 1 hour and 10 minutes (+ some seconds). I am honestly proud that I was able to run and finish the race in the time that I did. However, I am so competitive with myself that my time totally bummed me out. But that's okay! I'll do better next year. :)
Okay - done complaining!! I really did have fun, and although it wasn't my best run, I most definitely will do this race again next year. The experience is always completely worth it.
Cindy did an EXCELLENT job during this race! This was her 2nd 10k, but I don't really count her first one since she had a broken tail bone. She ran it in an hour and 18 minutes! Yay!! So proud of her. :)
-Everyone was wondering what was taking so long to start. The people behind us were making jokes like, "I never practiced standing around for an hour before running 6 miles before! I'm not prepared for this!" I decided it was a good sit down and rest your legs time.
-One of my favorite pictures from the weekend! Cindy and I are waiting for the race to start. And the guy standing behind us totally photobombed our picture. Nerd! Funny nerd though.
-LOVE the bridge!! This picture makes the race totally worth it. Such a pretty run!
Lesson learned? God can humble us even through regular life experiences. I was so pumped up about running the race in under an hour, yet I was completely knocked on my rump with everything that lead up to the race. I don't exactly deal well with failure, but I'm learning to slap on a smile and clamp my mouth shut! Not sure I did a great job at that this weekend though. lol
How was your weekend? :D
2146
No comments:
Post a Comment