Monday, October 24, 2011

Race for the Cure Recap

Yesterday I completed my 3.1 miles for the Race for the Cure.  My final time ended up being 46:55, which was pretty close to my target of 45 minutes.  The day itself was pretty crazy and I'm glad that the event is over.  I put a lot of stress on myself  and worried over even the stupidest details.  This is just how I work and one day perhaps I will not "sweat the small stuff".  But yesterday was not that day!
I was finally warm and cozy and asleep in bed, Adam had woken up with James in the night (Damn you, molars x a million!), when I heard the grumble of a baby who wants out of bed.  I thought to myself "Seriously, dude, why are you up so early??"  The alarm hadn't gone off yet, so I knew it was before 4:45 AM...  I decided to ignore the grumble until the alarm had gone off and I'd walked the dog.  But the grumble kept making noise...  So I reach over to grab Adam's phone (a.k.a. our alarm clock) and IT WOULDN'T TURN ON.  So I reached into my pj's and grabbed my insulin pump.  Its handy indiglo light and clock features let me know it was 5:54 AM!  So, I hollered at Adam and jumped out of bed.  I had planned to leave at 6:15 AM to get to the race and pick up my bib and t-shirt.  OMG!  Adam said, "Don't freak out, I'll walk the dog, you just get dressed."  So Adam fed the dog and cut up an apple for me while I dressed and ate some cereal.  Adam took the dog out and I got into the car.  Funny enough, James' grumble woke me up and then he proceeded to sleep for another hour.
Anyway, despite the drama I got to the race in plenty of time.  I had already decided to take York Rd. up to Hunt Valley rather than getting on I-83, which was a good call.  When I passed one of the message boards on the beltway, it let me know that I-83 was at a stand still due to an accident at Warren Rd., just one exit before the race location.  I hope the accident wasn't too bad, but I never heard anything about it up at the race.  Parking was no problem, I got a spot right across the street from the race village.  It took me awhile to find the registration booth, which was my main goal.  I passed all the free give away booths because I was worried about getting my t-shirt and bib.  Part of me thinks that people show up for these events because of the free food, coffee, racing backpacks, etc. because the giveaway booths had huge lines.  The line for the B's that had registered was pretty long, but in no time I had my shirt and bib.
It was pretty cold, about 40 degrees, so I wore my yoga pants, an Under Armour long sleeved mock turtle neck (Adam wears it under his jersey at Raven's games), and a fleece jacket.  I ended up putting my long sleeved race shirt over the Under Armour and was very warm.  The UPS "Check my Stuff" booth had no line, so I sent Adam a quick text to let him know I'd made it and then checked my backpack and jacket.  Then I looked at my iPod clock...  It was 6:52 AM.  I had an hour and 8 minutes to kill.  So I walked around some, I ate my apple, and did some people watching.  The whole event had a great girl power kind of attitude.  There were teams with funny t-shirts, people with pink hair, and lots of men in pink.  I know that the t-shirts are supposed to be funny and uplifting, but I found some of them to be a bit offensive.  I know, I'm a stick in the mud, but there were references to tatas, hooters, knockers, the "girls", etc. and lots of exaggerated drawings of breasts.  Don't they know little boobies can get breast cancer too?  Anyway, I lined up about 7:30 AM in the big crowd of people.  The race started promptly at 8 AM and I gave it my all.  All of the experienced runners were pretty obvious, they blew right passed me!  I ran as much as I could, but the first part of the course was a big hill.  I walked when I had to and tried to keep a pretty even pace.  When I came up to the 2 mile mark and saw the race clock at 29:45 I knew I was going pretty slowly!  I was burning up in my 2 layers of clothing.  But I made sure I was running at the finish, so all in all, I met my goal of finishing the race.
Afterwards I gathered my things up and headed out.  Again, no problems getting my items from the check station and no problems getting out of the parking lot.  Overall, I was very impressed at the organization of the  event, considering there were 35,000 runners and walkers, not to mention the spectators.
Here are some photos, I didn't take them, but they give an idea of the number of people.
At the start line

Lots of runners!
Lots of thanks to those who donated, my mom, dad, step mom and boss, Debbie, I raised $150 for breast cancer research!
It is still possible to make an online donation so here is the link, just in case - Chelsea's Donation Page.

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