So where was I?
Oh yes, the self-inflicted torture race! How could I forget?!
Well the 3:30am wakeup call on Sunday morning was not a pleasant feeling.
And then I burnt my toast. (That’s not code for anything, I literally burnt some bread.) After making my Aunt’s kitchen smell like smoke before 4am, I was a little perturbed. But ready for the race! (Not really. I was starting to freak out.)
It was a beautiful dark morning in downtown Tampa
And by 6am we were off!
I’ll skip all some of the gory details, but it was a rough race. I wasn’t mentally feeling it, and was extremely agitated by mile 2. (That’s 11 miles before the end of the race. Yeah, it was discouraging.) I also didn’t follow my own race-day advice, and wore shorts that I hadn’t worn on a long run in months. Due to the fact that my thighs are the size of baby manatees on the large-side, my right short leg kept rolling weird and messing with my other one. Needless to say, there was a lot of painful running with bunched up shorts between my legs (sexy, right?). I was starting to bleed by mile six and desperately looking for a med tent with bodyglide.
(Turns out they didn’t have any med tents. Or bodyglide.. Woops.) I found an EMT who gave me a bandaid (which fell off in about 15 seconds) as well as some shocking words of wisdom: You know, you could just quit.
I mean, seriously? Aren’t they supposed to be encouraging us? Besides, there was no flippin way I was going to run that far and not finish!
I finally found a man with sticks of vaseline (yes, chaffing is common, I’m not the only weird one) and things improved. Sort of. I dug down deep to finish the last mile strong, and started sprinting the second I saw the finishline. (Apparently objects in eyeballs may be farther than they appear. It was a long way to sprint. But I wanted to be dooonneeeee.) I went so fast, I felt like I was flying. Which most likely means I reached a ground-breaking 8 minute mile or something, but it was fast for me.
I crossed the finish line, flooded with emotions, and gave my mom this face:
But 5 minutes (and a big shiny medal) later, I was a happy camper. 🙂
I know I made my entire experience sound miserable, and at times it honestly was, but I am SO glad I did it.
Running is about a lot more than making it from point “a” to point “b.” It’s about challenging yourself in ways you never thought were possible. It’s about pushing through the obstacles, and the pain, and knowing that you’re doing something remarkable. Most importantly, it’s about recognizing the wonderful gift of movement and strength that God has given you. And that’s pretty awesome.
On a side note, I just wanted to throw a little big-sister-love out to the interwebs for my baby brother. He did four races in one weekend (15k, 5k, 1/2 Marathon, 5+3K=about 30miles) and rocked every single one of them. He finished 20th out of 386 people that attempted the challenge, and was by far one of the youngest participants. I am SO proud of him!! (Love you, Zan Man.)
Now for some more stretching. And maybe to check out some other races online.. 😉
Alexis Ashley's Blog 
