I DID IT!

Sleeping the night before a race is not very restful. Especially when they're calling for severe severe storms. I prayed really hard all night it seemed, that they wouldn't cancel the race or postpone. I remember waking up around 2 something and hearing the wind and monsoon type downpour. And for the next 3 or so hours I prayed in my sleep. Please Jesus, let the rain hold off and the storms stay away until after I finish. I was going to be so sad if the event was cancelled. I woke up around 5:15 and it was still pouring, and I thought to myself, well this race is going to be memorable. I started getting more and more nervous thinking about running 6.2 miles. That's a long way. A long way to continue with the same motion over and over again. And I thought had trained enough, but I hadn't gotten close to 6 miles at all during any training. Thoughts like... what were you thinking singing up for a 10k, you are going to have to walk, hope you don't trip and fall running down the finish stretch. Whew. Those thoughts were all over my head. I slowly began speaking truth into them. Yes, it's going to be challenging, but you have trained for this. you can do this. you are going to do this! It didn't make the nerves go away!

We get to the start line and it's NOT RAINING! Praise you Jesus! Annie, Kati, my dad and I were standing around waiting for them to tell us to line up and then it started to rain. I didn't even hear them start the race. I just saw everyone start moving forward... and we were off! The first mile seemed to take forever. But around mile 3, I thought to myself, wow I am really doing this. And I felt strong! I was keeping a good pace and wasn't worried about passing anyone or anything! I prayed a lot during this race. Praying that He would get the glory in it. Thanking Him repeatedly for giving me the ability to run and asked Him to help me have fun while running this race. And you know what, I did have fun. I never once thought I was going to die or felt like I needed to walk. And that was amazing. Kati is a great race partner. She paced right along with me and every mile marker we got to she would clap and cheer and tell me how great I was doing. And for a words of affirmation girl like me, it was wonderful! Miles 4 and 5 seemed to go quickly. And before I knew it, I was climbing the last hill of the race, and I felt great! I was hungry, but other than that, I felt so awesome. I was flooded with emotion at the top of the hill thinking about what I had just accomplished. I really couldn't believe I had run the entire way, never once thinking that I needed to walk. That is really crazy. Around the last curve it started to pour. BIG. RAIN. DROPS. It was so refreshing. We passed by Annie's family, we waved and smiled and kept running. Then as we approached the finish line I saw familiar faces! That's the best part. I saw Janet first, Misha, Annie, Laci, Brandon, and then I saw Mikala and Cori. I heard Drenna yell my name, but I couldn't see her until I crossed the finish line! It was so great to have so much support from my friends! I felt really loved! My dad got stuck in race traffic trying to get back from seeing me at mile 3 and missed me crossing the finish line, but he came right after! Don't worry dad, there will be another one!

I just checked the results and I came in 586th out of 687. I wasn't last!!! YAY! My average mile was 12:26 with my fastest being 11:39 on mile 6! YES!! I did it!