My official name for today "1067" Julie got a picture of us so when she sends it to me I will post it. So after months of getting prepared for this race (ok 2 1/2 months) here were the events of the day and thoughts going through my head.
1. Pin my number on my shirt thinking "It's gonna feel weird to run with a piece of paper attached to my chest. Trained to run uphills, down hills, in the cold, in the heat, with my iPod, without my iPod...didn't train to run with a piece of paper on my chest."
2. Tie my tag onto my shoe so it clocks my official time. "I'm tying this sucker on as tight as I can because if it falls off I will be not happy when my official time comes up as 5 hours."
3. Get to the race, look at the first couple blocks where it starts "Damn it's uphill right away."
4. Freezing cold in shorts and t-shirt. Stand there in the sun for an hour waiting for race to start. Look around at all the people. "That guy is wearing a kilt and a shirt that says 'Real men knit.' That's weird and I am freaking cold."
5. Continue people watching, see a girl doing some major stretching "That girl looks like she can run, got on the official running pants and can touch her toes and the guys next to her at the same time while doing the splits."
6. Somehow we are in the front of the crowd to start the race. "I better move my ass because I have a stampede of runners right on my tail."
7. As Jason Naeger flys by me he says "You're going at a pretty good clip just so you know." I'm thinking "Heck yes I am because I'm afraid of getting trampled by the stampede behind me including a guy in a kilt"
8. Watching traffic have to sit still as this mass of 400 people run in the street "Bet you are pissed right now, ha ha. "
9. Feeling good with my pace, watching the people on the side handing out water to the runner's, "Not gonna do anything that will slow me down like grab a cup of water and hydrate my dry throat"
10. Kid directing runners around 1 mile mark saying "Hi" to everyone "Cute kid but I can't talk right now because that would require extra breath that I don't have and my throat is dry."
11. "Sweet, I am passing chicks that look like they are in way better shape than I am, and I'm passing them going uphill!"
12. Hear a girl running with her friend giving her a pep talk about how they have ran harder courses than this and she could do it, hung around them for a bit so I could piggy back on that pep talk.
13. See a group of runners going in the other direction doing a longer race "Bet you are wishing you did the 5k, watch out for that hill you are about to hit!"
14. "Just passed toe touching girl!"
15. "Damn, another hill."
16. "Damn, when did it become so hot?"
17. "Is my tag still on my shoe?"
18. "Ok I must be about halfway done, not doing too bad. Holy crap, the finish line is right around the corner!" It was like that great feeling you get when you wake up thinking it's time to get up and you still have 1 more hour to sleep.
19. Sprint to the finish "Yes I will take that water and I would say thank you but I can't talk."
20. "That wasn't too bad, I could probably tackle a 10k." Then I think about the people who are running that same loop I just ran all over again. "Maybe just a few more 5ks."
21. The run went by SO fast it was almost unreal. Definitely motivating being surrounded by other people. I can't believe I actually prefer to run without my iPod, I feel like I do much better without it.
Ah my favorite purchase I made in Springfield...fell in love with them for three reasons:
While taking my purple shoe pic randomly took a pic of the rest of my shoes...I am counting approx 26 pairs. And I had just got rid of quite a few. My next ones need to be hot pink high heels. 
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