HOT hot hot.

As it turns out, I can run 5 miles, and I DID this morning! As predicted, it was hot like the devil. The words melting and sweltering and wilting come to mind. I only have a few minutes to write at the moment, so I'll try to give you the condensed race report.

We arrived later than I would have preferred. I noticed that our pace was linked to our bib number. My number, being 5569, gave away my turtle pace to everyone I'd seen. BOOOOO! I caught myself a time or two staring with jealousy at some quick little skinny girl with a mere 1037 or whatever... Anyway, I was nervous but we eventually got all lined up in our corrals, ready to go. There were ~5000 people racing. And after the anthem was sung, I popped in my earbuds, ready for a race full of audio-book (a first for me). Then... oh no!.... dead Shuffle battery. The battery on the shuffle is legendary, ok? It NEVER dies. But it would not start for me at the beginning of this race. I tried to hand it off to SoxFan (leading to one very humorous start-of-race photo, to be posted later) but he wasn't allowed near enough to me to take it. So I just stuffed it in my sports bra and was on my way.

The first little bit was intimidating, as I always tend to take off quickly with the crowd and then I wilt later on and end up having to walk. This time I was determined to keep my own pace, no matter how many walkers passed me. I felt great, and it ended up being a blessing that I didn't have an iPod to listen to... there were times when my breathing started to get away from me and I needed to be able to focus completely on my breathing. The first mile went by with no problems. Then the second, and still, no problems. When I hit 3.5 miles, I sort of decided that I was just going to run the whole thing. I was feeling great, keeping a steady pace, and I knew it would be a challenge but I also knew I could do it.

The crew was great. There were 4 water stations (in a 5 mile race!) and they had folks standing along the course spraying runners with water. It was GREAT. The water always came at just the right moment. The crew was also very encouraging!

Finally, when I had only 0.75 miles left, I started to feel a bit tired, but I absolutely refused to stop running at that point. I kept thinking: "it's only 7-8 minutes... I can do this for another 7-8 minutes." And eventually, I did. SoxFan met me just a little ways from the finish, and he snapped a couple of pictures (which I will share later).

For the record, I sweated BUCKETS. Buckets, people, I swear to you. I don't know if I've ever sweated so much. The fastest man ran the race in 23 minutes, and the fastest woman ran it in 28 minutes. CRAZY.