Annie came to me with the idea for this run and we knew it was made for us. The stars aligned and we were meant to run this race. The race was in Boise and on the same weekend as the Hill Family reunion in Boise, so we were going to be there anyway. It is an all women's race that supported Susan G Komen search for the cure (which we all know how much our family hates cancer) and the name of the run was "I Run for Champagne and Chocolate." And while I don't drink champagne, I do eat chocolate. Lots of it! It was meant to be. The only problem was the cost.
Because it benefited cancer research, it was a pretty pricey race. I decided to send a call for help out to my family and received an answer in the form of sponsors. Thank you Aunt Moana, Aunt Esther, and Mom Ladwig. You ladies gave me one of the most memorable days of my life.
With finances taken care of, it was time to get ready for the race. The morning of the race we gathered in the bathroom at my parent's house bright and early and put on our game faces, or in this picture game hair.
After we were ready, we headed off to the race. I wrapped my leg in runners tape, and put on my ITB Band and prayed that it didn't flare up too bad. (I had been nursing that injury for about three weeks at that point.) We picked up our packets and headed of to listen to the instructions. As we sat there listening to the man give us instructions about which arrows to follow on the course Annie and I snuggled up as we always do, Annie holding my arm with her head on my shoulder. As we are standing there listening this woman, not in the race, comes walking past us. Annie was wearing her visor and all of a sudden this woman walking past gets right into her view. I mean bending over, looking under the visor, making eye contact to say, "Seriously" and then walk off. While I was oblivious to what was going on, Annie had been stared down menacingly and had felt rays of hate emanating towards us from this woman. Annie turned to me to see if I had seen it and if I knew what it was about when all of a sudden she realized, the woman thought we were gay. Yep, my sister and I were mistaken for lesbians. It took us a while to come to grips with what had just happened when it dawned on me, "Oh great, that makes me the man." We had a good laugh at it in the end, but it did put a little damper on the day. Just the meanness that some people can have is unbelievable. I guess a warning to all sisters comes from this. If you don't want to be mistaken for lesbians, don't snuggle in public.
This was part of our warm-up. What you can't see in the picture is our instructor in her spandex leopard print pants and blue leggings with purple headband. You also can't hear the stellar '80's music blaring. Seriously, is there not a more perfect race for Annie and I.
Lining up at the starting line. Obviously our little run in with the mean lady didn't stop us from snuggling a little for the picture. And then, the race began...
We started out good and steady. We were feeling it. We decided to take the strategy of walking at all the water breaks and it really worked well for us. It was nice to get just that small breather, be able to drink our water without it sploshing down our faces, and then get going again. I struggled a little around mile 6, but Annie kept me going and it quickly passed. Then, mile 9 happened. Mile 9 was a low point in our run. We were tired and starting to hurt, but knew that we still had a long way to go. Annie's feet were killing her, they blistered up really badly, but I knew that if we stopped then I would have a hard time getting my IT Band up and loosened again. I pushed Annie through mile 9 before we decided to walk mile 10. After that, Annie seemed to be going strong again, but my knee started killing me! I ran the last two miles doing a limp run trying to cause the least amount of damage to my injury. By the last 1/2 mile I was grunting and about every 10 yards asking where the end of the race was with Annie cheerleading me on, but definitely slowed herself. Then, we saw it. The finish line. I thought I could have cried.
I am happy to report that we finished the race in 2 hours 22 min. I felt very proud of that time. It also was just in the nick-of-time to see my niece Jaycee's 1 mile race. She did fabulously!
So after laying on the ground for a little bit. Drinking a lot, and picking up our chocolate, of course, we were able to proudly show off our medals we got.
Really, my body held up fairly well. My knee and IT Band ached for days afterward, but not any more than during my training. My whole body was covered in nasty dry salt and I had to take a shower immediately. And then there was my foot...
It is hard to see in the picture, especially since my toenails are painted red anyways, but my 2nd toe bled all over my foot. I had no idea it had done so until I took my shoes off to take my shower. It really was kinda gross. That toe had some issues going in to it. About a month previously I somehow got a blister under my toenail. Once the blister was popped the whole toenail turned black. Just recently the toe nail finally came completely off and is currently about half grown back in. It really was just a shocker to see blood when you aren't expecting it.
The only other scar from the race that I had to show was this blister on the bottom of my foot. All in all, a very successful half marathon.
2 comments:
Go Katie! Congats on finishing your race!
Hahaha, can't believe she thought you were gay!! Nice work- you 2 are very tough!
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