VICTORY!!!!

so, obviously i survived my first race. obviously i didn't die of an asthma attack. and obviously i finished, or i'd be too embarassed to even blog about it. in fact, i think i did fairly well. the most i ran was 5 miles about 4 weeks ago. and i was sick 2 weeks prior to the race. and i went hiking for almost 2 hours the day before a race because i'm a sucker for a cute boy.

dispite my lack of discipline and my short stubby legs, i finished the race without walking. in fact, i finished the race in 59:07!!! that's an average of 9:31 miles. i am very happy that i broke the one hour mark.

so here's the replay of the race and some of my thoughts during...

the first 3 miles i was coasting. i ran with andrew (a friend from church). he was very nice and made me feel good about myself by running with me (he's a triathlete). we were coasting and going at a pretty steady pace. then soon after mile 3, i crashed. we were running in downtown tempe, and if i had known where i was in the route, i would've found my way back to the car and waited for my friends there. but i kept my short stubby legs going. next thing i know, i look up and i see kira in front of me. (kira did not train at all for this race.) in the competitive instinct within me could not let her in front of me. so i caught up with her and we ran together for a little bit. we waited for audrey to show up, but we couldn't find her. kira slowed down for her, but i kept on going because if i slowed down any more, i would've just stopped all together. so i went on and part way thru mile 4, kira catches back up with me and we start running together. while kira is fretting that she's a bad friend for losing audrey, i'm thinking, gotta keep going, can't stop to find a friend, have to finish. (kira is a little bit less selfish than i) anyways, we run together and as we pass mile 5, the timer person yes out some time that was 48 or 49 minutes. and kira turns to me and says, we can finish this race in less than hour! i looked at her as if she was insane, but at the same time, i thought how sweet it would be if we could finish in less than an hour. so i said, well, if we want to break an hour, we're gonna have to haul ass! well, we did. so picture this with me: kira is probably about 5'9" and of that 5'9", about 5' of it are legs. i'm 5'3" (with shoes on) and i got short stubby legs. and so as we pick up the pace, i was like a warthog running next to a very graceful gazelle. (lauren, sorry, i had to steal that line) so anyways, once i hit mile 6, i mustered up the last bit of energy that i had and sprinted the last .2 miles. and i thought i was going to hurl when i passed the finish line. but that's ok because i finished in less than an hour. :)

so to refer to the previous blog, i didn't burn my running shoes. jen is still trying to convince me to run the half marathon. i had a BIG lobster for lunch after the race. i had cold stone after that. and ice cream for dinner. but i didn't eat the whole tub. i haven't found my ice cold pepsi yet. and there was no cute boy to make out with. (though i did hike with a cute boy the previous day)

anyways, that was my first (and maybe last) race. my legs hurt. they feel like they are going to fall off. and i'm going to go home after work today and eat more ice cream. :)