More on the Amazing Race

My friend told me at church today that she's been waiting for updates on my blog, so I guess I'd better get down to business and write about my wonderful trip and how things went. I'll dedicate this entry to the race.

We got to the YMCA and picked up our numbers and shirts. The numbers have a tracking chip in them so they can accurately tell when you start and stop the race. The longer we were there, the more nervous I got because it looked like I was way out of my league! There were a lot of serious runners there. There were a lot of people in the race in general and I felt like someone was going to start singing, "Which one of these things is not like the other?" I was intimidated. I told my sister that had I been able to see that moment, I wouldn't have entered the race.

We milled around a bit and started moving toward the starting line. Well, really we just started following the crowd, assuming it would get us to where we needed to be. Here is the crowd we waited with, all of them in the race.



Brad, who had all three of our kids plus my nephew, had gone to park the car and we didn't have much hope of finding him. I just hoped he'd find me at the finish line. As we started off, we saw him off to the side and he got a couple of pictures.

Here's the starting line from Brad's perspective. The serious runners are up front.



And off we went. It was probably 5 or 10 minutes later that we passed Brad. That's me and my sister in the crowd.



You can see us better in this cropped shot:




We started off uphill. Cyndi, who is a faster runner immediately surged ahead. I found my comfortable pace and just got in my own little groove. As we started, the faster runners went on ahead and what was left behind were people more in my league. I felt better at that point.

A few minutes into the race I saw people running on what looked like a different track of a different race. I quickly realized that those were the front runners in our race, coming back around after doing a turnaround. Wow, just wow. Some people are really fast.

I ran the entire way. I was surprised how many people walked parts or all of it. Several people had their dog with them. I saw one girl in a wheelchair being pushed and wheeling herself. There were several children running with parents. There were some strollers.

I realized as we pulled in for the race that I had forgotten my music. I always feel like I need my music to run, so I was really bummed. But as we ran, I was glad to be able to listen to those around me and just take in the whole experience.

Toward the end of the race I surprised myself with a burst of speed up a hill as I passed a whole bunch of people. They passed me again a short time later on our downhill, but still, it was a fun moment.

I saw my sister who had already finished cheering me on right before I crossed the finish line. Brad and the kids were there waiting for me. Here's a picture of me just after I was done running.



They gave us water to drink. Here we are just after I finished.


It was a really cold morning. The poor kids were freezing and the babies, specifically mine, were fussing pretty good. We went to find out our results and get the food they provided, bagels and cream cheese and Sunny D to drink. Here's the result page with my result on it:



You should be able to click on it to get it to open larger. It says I placed 1905th, that my age is 36, that my chip time was 39:05 which is the time registered from the chip in my number. It also shows that my pace was 12:36 per mile. Pretty cool stuff.

I'm really glad I did the race. It wasn't all that hard in the actual doing of the running. It was just amazing to be part of it I didn't even really focus on the hills we were doing or the distance, I just did it.

Thanks, Cyndi, for doing it with me. I wouldn't have done it without you. Thanks Brad for supporting me and cheering me on. I love you guys.