I have a few pictures to show you, my vanity will be hurt after this post but I suppose I can take it for the sake of an accurate "report." Here, The Son and I walk to the beginning of the race. The Husband took one of the back of us too, that will NOT be making the blog, my self-esteem isn't THAT secure.
Stretching to prepare for the race, it was very cute, as I started stretching, The Son decided that he too needed to stretch out. He was signed up for the 1 mile unscored "fun run" with The Husband.
Wow! Look at all the people... I was getting nervous... really nervous...
Can you tell? This is my "I'm really nervous, what have I gotten myself into?" face.
Showing off my number...
Here I am amongst the crowd, I realize it's blurry, The Husband must have been getting over-excited. It's the only picture I have in with the other racers though so I had to post it.
And before I knew it... we were off. I situated myself at the back of the group considering I knew I would not be a fast runner. I had been warned that there were a lot of hills in this race. I am not used to hills. I managed to run the first mile, pretty much without stopping. There were a lot of kids around me who were a part of the YMCA's "Girls on the Run" program and they all had running buddies (moms and dads) with them. It was nice because I fed off the encouragement that their parents were offering them. Each time I wanted to stop I would hear a parent encouraging their child and I knew I could keep running, at least a little bit longer. After about the first mile, there was a water station with little paper cups of water. I had to stop to take a drink and then I had a hard time starting back up again. I was heading up another hill and I had to walk. I was feeling really down on myself for walking but just kept telling myself that walk or run, I was doing it. I was participating in a race! The good thing about all the hills going up was that there were also quite a few hills going down. I decided that I could run them and in fact, it was easier than trying to walk so I tried to make up speed on the way down. Finally, I saw the mile 2 marker! I realized I was two thirds of the way finished! At this point, I doubted that I would ever run another 5K! ha ha! I kept going, and going and going, until I was rounding the bend and could see the word "FINISH" ahead. I glanced at the clock and realized that it read somewhere around 35 minutes! WHAT? I was shocked. I managed to cross the finish line with the clock reading 36:20. I was thrilled with that time! It wasn't until later that I realized my time would actually be less because I didn't cross the timing mats at the same time the clock was started. That's how I ended up with the time 35:48! I came in 488/877 women and 64/103 in my division. My overall placement in the whole thing was 1012/1508. I'm happy with all of that and know that I have goals to reach as far as improvement but that's a good thing! As I crossed the finish line, I searched and searched for my guys. I couldn't find them and evidently, they didn't see me. I'm kind of sad about that because The Husband says he was poised with the camer to take a picture of me. It didn't happen, but to be fair, there were a lot of people there. We took a
Again, with the thumbs-up. It's the kids trademark I think. 
We stayed for the after-race party and had a few snacks until we decided to head home where I collapsed and took a much needed three hour nap! The Husband and I got to go out on a date with friends that evening because of the YMCA's "Parent's Night Out" it was a great day and evening all around. Tomorrow, we're going to have a guest blogger... The Husband who will give his race report on The Son running the 1 mile fun run. He's a much better writer than I am so I'm sure it will be funny! Have a great Monday everyone!
