This year, Sarah and I got even more ambitious and trained for the half marathon for the same running festival that was held on April 6.
The Saturday morning of the race, I woke up at 5:15 a.m. I put on my orange running festival shirt, safety-pinned my number to the front, put on my favorite Junk headband, my $100 running shoes (which we had put 11 miles on two weeks before our race), and waited by the door for Sarah to come pick me up.
On our way to the race, a giant squirrel flew into Sarah's windshield and I spilled my coffee down the front of my pants. It was pretty uncomfortable, but since I've been pregnant, I've been used to peeing on myself so it was nothing too out of the ordinary to have a wet crotch. We arrived at the square around 6:30 and the race was supposed to start at 7:00. We stretched and found our spots near the starting point.
When the gun went off for the race to begin, I felt the suddent urge to pee. I literally ran into the Casey's general store on the corner of Central and "J" street and went on my merry way. If you've never run a race before, it is the coolest environment because there are all of these supporters who cheer you along on your way. They are complete strangers, but they yell and clap for you, and hold up signs. One of the yards we passed had a band playing in the front yard and a girl who was holding a live chicken. Another one of the yards was decorated with an "Alice in Wonderland" theme.
There are also folks who stand along the race route holding signs. One of my favorites was around mile 9 and said, "You think you're tired. My arms are sore from holding this sign." When we had about 3 miles to go, there was this sweet lady that was yelling for us. As we passed, she said, "You only have a 5K to go!!" I was pretty exhausted at this point and simply responded with, "Easy for you to say!!" I didn't say it in a rude way, but in a "we already ran 10 miles lady. I think 3 more might kill me." There is also this BEAST of a hill -the Crystal Bridges hill- at the end of the route that even the most experienced runners walk up. It also happened to be positioned within the last mile of the race. Right before the hill, there was a sign that said, "What hill?" It was so cool though because when we got to it, SEVERAL of my current students were standing there giving us high fives and cheering us on. They were yelling, "Good job Mrs. Wicker!" and "You've got this Mrs. Wicker!" It was the extra boost that I needed to get me through the rest of the race.
Within our last mile, once we'd made it to the top of the hill and we were almost done, there was a lady in front of us wearing a sign on her back that said she was running the race in honor of her dad. I started to think about the countless hours of training, foot blisters, leg and foot cramps, long Saturday and Sunday runs, and I got really emotional and started crying. We had made it to the end. We ran the 13.1 mile route and crossed the finish line. We made it in 2 hours and 39 minutes. Our goal was to finish in under 3 hours. There was another pregnant woman who ran the race and ended up crossing the line about five minutes after us. I told Sarah that I was happy I beat the other preggo. She was just happy we finished the race period. It was an incredible experience and I can't wait to do it again!
Shannon and Sarah post race.
