And, The Finale!

So, yesterday, we left the Rock the Parkway recap with me looking like I was going to die just about to cross the finish line! That's always such a great moment that I wish I could put it into words!! But, I can't. And, in that moment, I'm usually a little too tired for words, so my lack of them in post-run analysis makes total sense even if just to me! (In fact, I purposely put Feel This Moment (Pitbull/Christina Aguilera) last on my motivation playlist for this run only to realize well after the race that I didn't feel much of anything  in that moment! Whoopsie!)

I did, though, hear the announcer call my name when I crossed which is pretty cool in that it somehow makes it all official and that I lived to tell about it. The end of the run was crazy-efficient with plenty of volunteers handing out water bottles and willingly giving me two when I asked for the second (unlike certain other runs ...). There were more volunteers seated and ready to cut off our timing chips than I could register; you could not have made off with your chip if you wanted to! And, of course, there were plenty -- plenty -- of people ready and eager to reward the runners with the bling!

And, then, there were my people!!!

He always gets so excited to hug me after a run! It's very brave
of him because I am oh-so-stinky!

My two smallest-but-biggest fans!

It was rather warm (and, I was rather smelly ... and, sore), but the weather perfectly lent itself to perusing the outdoor vendors. I might mention, you got there up an incline. Just sayin'.

That's where the good stuff is!

The event planners did a great job gathering a whole host of goodness from traditional goodies like bananas, rolls and plenty of water to other refuels like mac'n'cheese, yogurt and chocolate milk. This works well for my Crew because I don't like most of it as much as they do*. So, I run, they get my snacks, everyone wins!

* For one who loves milk and loves chocolate, I cannot stand chocolate milk. Unless it's made with Hershey's syrup and dumped in the milk at a ridiculous ratio like I did when I was about 8. That's good chocolate milk. It seems the racing-refueling-your-body-to-be-healthy community disagrees with my proportions. They probably don't use Hershey's chocolate syrup, either. So, I gave mine to the Crew ... Just noting.

It was here at the after-soiree that I got a print out of my time. I had an idea of what it was, but I did want to know the indisputable outcome especially given the mental struggles required just to keep my rear in gear. It turned out I landed exactly where I want to on long runs where I'm working hard but not killing myself to do it. Granted, I had to work really hard to turn this one in, but that had to do with extenuating circumstance during training, not a loss of ability.

To be honest, I was a little stunned as was the Crew whom I had warned that this may be the time they see mama drag her sorry self across the finish much later than usual. And, as you know, I use time as a tool and not as a badge of honor, so it was quite something to have both of my kids tell me they were happy for me because they knew how hard I worked and not because of how fast I was. They get it. Because they're cool like that.

They're actually waiting to see me start here. They look like
that at the finish, too. I'm so blessed to have a family that
doesn't want to miss a moment!

But, did they know their mom is so cool that, at the end of the race, I realized I had a dried trail of Gatorade running from my mouth all the way down my neck? Ohhhhhh yeahhhhh ...

Evidently, more got away from my mouth
than I realized. I'm not sure how I didn't
know!

By the way, I did pay a price for the time I turned in. My toes were killing me for most of the rest of the weekend from being pounded into the front of my shoes. My upper thighs hurt more than usual because of the fast walking as that pulls them different than does running (amazing the tweaks the body makes without our even knowing it until, frankly, it hurts!). These are most definitely recoverable, but they were issues I had to accept and embrace by mid-race if I was going to keep up my pace. Not-so-spoiler alert: I was good with it!

Aaron and Pit Crew #2 both asked if I wanted to do this particular race again. Immediately after, all I could say was, "Maybe." I needed to rethink the entire thing in the context of what I now actually know versus what I thought I knew. Steering clear of injury would help the process, too! But, regardless of what I decide about this particular event, the experience most certainly made me comb through the piles of flyers acquired at the Expo to see what other events are around that I can take on! And, the main reason I would want to participate in another distance run is because of how true I stayed to myself and stuck to what was most important to me before and during every step of these 13.1 miles.

And, how very true to me I stayed:

I just had to! There was absolutely no one
next to me when I saw and passed over it!
So, I stopped, turned back and got it!
Dime here, penny right after ... score! (If
I'm going to have a compulsion, this is a
good one to have!)

Thanks for coming along the Parkway with me!! And, in particular, I thank my Crew for not only being with me physically, but, this time, for kind of coming along for the ride ...

I used the back of my bib for some inspiration. Of course, there's my Crew as
well as an email Aaron sent me the day before the run. The other is a quote
from a guy I read on his "Run Hard - Always Finish" Facebook page. He's a
run-ner but isn't the least bit concerned about sharing when things don't go his
way. I love the sentiment of the words he posted just a couple of weeks ago.
It was like he was talking to me. I drew on these words in the middle of the run.
It's good to be reminded that you are, in fact, good enough.

Tomorrow, it's a whole different brand of fun at the Expo recap!! Thank you again for all of your cheers!! I'll see you on the shopping front tomorrow!