Running Like Hell

This post doesn't really have anything to do with our moving, but it's something I've done while Nick's been gone, so I thought I'd post about it anyway.

Yesterday, the cats woke me up about 5am, even though I planned to get up at 6. So I drifted in and out of sleep until my alarm finally went off. I got up and went and opened the porch door to see just how cold it was. I was pleasantly surprised. It was cool, but not too bad at all. Then I got all geared up in my running clothes (including some crazy running tights that my sister let me borrow), ate a couple of waffles with peanut butter, and waited on my mom and Summer.

They got here about 7:30, and after watching the hilarity that ensued when mom attempted to parallel park, we left for the MARTA station. Summer hadn't rode the train before, so we thought it would be fun. It would have been better if the trains hadn't been single tracking up on our end, but we got to the King Memorial station in plenty of time.

I had never been to Oakland Cemetery before, and it was so cool! There were a lot of runners on our train, so we followed everyone else from the train station to the race. There's a cool archway over the entrance to the cemetery, and a cobblestone street. I just never knew that there was a place like this in Atlanta. It's almost like one of those historic graveyards in New Orleans. A lot of huge monuments, extremely old (like, from the 1800s) headstones and mausoleums.

I was so glad mom and Summer came, cause I would have been super lonely by myself. The pre-race email said there were about 650 runners, but there were a ton more at registration. I had forgotten they allowed race day registration for anyone who didn't pre-register.

So I got registered, got my cool t-shirt, and got in line at the start point to get ready to run. I was probably midway through the line of runners, so I couldn't hear the start, I just saw everyone start moving. Then we were off!

Don't mind the ridiculous face I'm making...

Since this was my first 5k, I really don't have anything to compare it to, but it was hard! There were lots of long inclines and a few really steep hills. But I had told myself that no matter what, I would not stop. Probably a little over a mile into the race, I saw the guy who was leading coming back. I didn't know it til then, but the race was sort of a loop. So as I was making my way through, I could see this guy already going back on the other side of the road (we were running on the streets in the Grant park neighborhood). Well, he won the men's overall trophy. With a crazy fast time! Summer was taking pictures at the finish line, and she got a great picture of him as he came in:

Yes, that is his time on that clock. And yes, he ran 5k (3.1 miles!) in that amount of time. You do the math!

I was feeling really good throughout the race because even though there were hills, I have long legs and started taking long strides to make it up the hills. There were many people walking the hills, and it was totally awesome to run by them! My plan of never stopping was foiled when my shoe came untied! So my time probably would have been about 5 seconds faster had that not happened. Oh well...

I totally got tricked though near the end of the race. As we were running back towards the cemetery, I could see the start line. Since we were coming back to it on the same route we left, I assumed the start line would also be the finish line. I was wrong! But I had already started to kick it in and run faster before I realized this. Then I saw that everyone was running through and continuing through the graveyard. I thought I was going to die!

It wasn't much longer to the finish, and there were many people on the pathway cheering us on. That really helped. If you ever get a chance to go watch any kind of race whether it be 5k, 10k, or a full or half marathon, you should go! It really helps the runners so much when there are people cheering. And it's fun! So I finally made it up the last hill, and I could see the finish. Then I saw my mom and Summer there cheering me on. It was so cool!

Here I am coming up on the finish.

And now finishing! Yay!

My official time (from my own watch) was 33 min 15 sec. They started that clock in the picture when the first people started running, but I didn't cross the start line for a few seconds after. They said over a thousand people ran the race, and I got 274th place!

After the race we watched the awards presentation and walked around the cemetery a bit. There's a whole section for confederate soldiers. It's just amazing! If you ever get a chance to go, you definitely should. It's so pretty and there's so much history there. Margaret Mitchell is buried there, but I didn't see her grave.

Well, that's pretty much all about the race. Afterward, Summer and mom and I trolled around underground Atlanta (it's still not very impressive) and then we came home, relaxed a bit, and started packing. It was a great day. I have to say I'm proud of myself. I've never loved running, but I'm glad I started. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to train for something and then follow through with it.

This is a crazy long entry.