Betty - A low-down on the 1/2 marathon

Ok, so this past Saturday I participated in my first 1/2 marathon. It was the Urban Wildland 1/2 Marathon in Richfield and it would be the longest distance running to date. The race started at 7am and we wanted to be there at 6:30, and i was picking up 2 fellow marathoning mama's, so that required me to set the alarm for 5:15am. I don't know if you know this about me yet, but I am not a morning person. Before children i would easily sleep until 10am every day and consider that getting up pretty early. Anything before 6am is just down right wrong. But I did it and we were at the race by 6:30.

Now blog, I am about to tell you something that no one else before has been willing to to tell you. Kind of like all the things that really happen during childbirth that no one warned you about because if you knew you would just go ahead and refill that Rx for your pills. Well, I'm here to let you know that the most foul smelling thing on this earth is the bathroom before a running race. And i'm saying this even never having been in the men's room, just the ladies. Here's the deal...it is very important that you poo before a race. if you don't it can be very uncomfortable and things might happen that could require you to immediately seek a port-a-potty or, you can get to a point when a nice big bush would do. SO, everyone tries to poo before a race and because you usually have to wake up at some godforsaken hour like 5:15! folks usually wait to go til they get to the race. There, that is your warning. Stay away. Far, far away from any indoor bathroom before a running race unless you need to contribute to the current stench that hangs heavy in the air.

Toxic air aside, i knew it was going to be a good day. First of all, when i got my race bib (the piece of paper with a # that runners wear in their shirt for races) my number was 699. My favorite number is 69. Enough said. Second of all, I not only met, but had an actual conversation with a celebrity! Well, only a celebrity if you watch the Biggest Looser, which i do because it is one of my favorite shows. O'Neil was there with his wife (Sunshine was in another state doing a triathlon or something like that) since he lives in Richfield - where the race was being held - and he was the official start guy. It was very inspiring to see and talk with him and it was such a great rush to see someone that you spent every Tuesday night watching on TV. And, he's a really nice guy.

The rest of the run was less interesting. We started out slow and pretty much stayed slow since we knew that we were still training for a full and we didn't want to get injured or burn out. The 3 Mama's all ran together and really had a great time. We had lots of therapeutic conversations and simply enjoyed each others company. The good and bad part was that it rained for the last 1 1/2 hours of the run. Good because otherwise it would have been really humid which would have been much worse, but bad because by the end of the race my feet were so waterlogged and heavy that it became difficult to pick them up.

It was also very awesome that my hubby was able to come with our daughter to watch and cheer me on. Despite the rain, the put the girl in the bike trailer and rode around to see us at various points along the race and snap some photos and give us some moral support.

But the best part of the race was when we rounded the corner and saw the finish line, K-Dubs reached over and grabbed my hand and we finished the race together. And that's what this is all about for me. Spending precious time with friends, and more importantly ourselves, to accomplish something that we never thought we could do. But here we are - doing it.