A breath of fresh air

Will and I had a pretty good run.  Will enjoyed the long cat-tail like piece of grass I broke off for him.  He waved it and let it drag on the ground.  He also kept asking me if I could hear the birds, too.

It takes Will and I a half an hour to get out the door, but I think I'll miss our runs.  The weather is getting colder and Will is getting older.  I can't believe two years of jogging stroller runs have already past us by.

I'm thinking of driving over to the indoor track first thing Tuesday and Thursday mornings to run/walk.

Will and I biked to the park today--about five miles round trip.  The first time I stood up as we were climbing a hill, I had some crazy stretching pains in my lower abdomen.  Those aren't my favorite.  They tend to happen when I stand up too quickly.  Overall, the hilly bike ride went well.

I am very excited about tomorrow's race!  I know I can run four miles and I know the view will be beautiful.

I got to the race only eight minutes before it started.  I ran down the hill to grab my bib and run back up.  By the time I made it back up the hill, I had time to hand my shirt to my husband, chat a second with a friend while I pinned my bib, and then... we were off.  (Lars said he and Will "ran" after us for about five minutes.  Will loves to run.)  As soon as I started running, I knew I was in trouble.  I had to go to the bathroom.

The first two miles I spent watching runners and looking for a good patch of trees.  The two miles went by quickly and at the turn around there was a port-a-potty!  As I made my way towards it, I asked the volunteers if anyone was in it.  No.  I was excited.  This won't take long!  But...it was LOCKED!  Ending up a fisherman was using it.  So the stop took a bit longer than I thought.

I lost the runner I was gunning for.  "Pinky" I called her.  She had a pink shirt and ended up being a ten miler.  While I was looking for another runner to try to catch, I passed a few people.  And then I found her, "Greenie."  She was wearing a green shirt.  I finally passed her about a half a mile away from the finish line.  "Greenie" made me smile when she cheered when we made it to the top of the hill.

The last half a mile was tough.  I started to feel incredibly sick.  I even thought, "I don't think I've ever felt this sick during a race."  But once I saw I was 200 yards way from the finish, I didn't worry about being sick.  I knew I was almost done.

As I crossed the finish line, I saw 37:06.  I figure the port-a-potty trip took at least a minute. So, I was very pleased with my nine minute miles.

The race was so fun.  During the last mile and a half, I thought about my Thanksgiving race.  Why should I decide now to walk it?  Why not try to keep running through the rest of October and November?  Six months between races is too long.