Stupid and Stubborn Have Never Failed...

KASHA!!!!
What?
Gotta write blog!
Why? What are you doing?
Gotta play app!

This week, I finally made it to the three last dreaded items on my to do list. Laundry, hair color, and apps. I used to love doing laundry, now I put it off until the Starbucks guys comment on how lovely my dress is because there was nothing left to wear. I'd been putting off the hair color because of the timing of color vs running and sweating.

You Mitt Romney-ed.
That's not even a sentence.
Yes, it is. You Mitt Romney-ed your hand.
Ohhhhh! I gotcha, Kiwi. The hair dye. Yes, I don't use the gloves, so I dyed my skin a few shades darker. Wanna show them?

Kiwi uploads!

LOVE KIWI


Yes. So that. Apps! Kiwi is an iphone, but until this week, he was app-less. I never bothered to get an apple id and it just wasn't an issue. But I knew I wouldn't have a chance to buy him "running clothes" (anything my sweat won't get through) this week, so I set him up with apps so he can play while he waits in the hotel room for me.

Kiwi, have any favorite apps?
I like the list one and the run one that you don't use.
So, the to-do list and the run tracker that I PROMISE we will try out very soon?
Yes. Go write the blog. I have to play app.

So now it's a week later and we're back from Athens.
Everything went perfectly. My hotel was directly across the street from packet pick up and right downtown within walking distance of some great restaurants. We also visited the campus.

So on race day, I got up and headed for the start line. 46 degrees was a little colder than what I'd trained in, but that's okay. Athens was a little hillier than what I'd trained on as well. We started downtown and headed for Cobbham, a historic/hysteric (by their own definition) neighborhood that always shows up with signs, costumes, and cheering sections. It was a great start and at mile one I was at 10:03. That's typically my 5k pace, but I figured the cold air accounted for a little speed. Mile two, 20:08. That's not right. I should be steadying into my 12 minute per mile pace by now. When I got to 3, I didn't look because I knew if I'd hit 30:anything, I'd think I used up my speed too early. Mile 4 had a water stop, but I was wearing a hand-held, so I cut around it and checked my time. 41:00. What? That's a 10:15 even! Where was this coming from?? So I kept at it. Mile 5 flew by, hills and all, and by the 10k mark (6.2 miles) I was at 1:03:something. I don't wear a GPS watch because I calculate splits in my head. But somewhere around here I decided to try and hold this pace. Miles 7, 8, & 9 were hills leading back to campus. Trudge up the hill, fly down, NEVER slow on the even ground. When I hit mile 10, I was under 1:45:00. I had a 5k to go! And my 5k is ALWAYS a 28-35. ALWAYS! So I knew at this point if I could hold on, I could beat the old record of 2:30:25. Mile 11 was rough. Uphill for most of it, and my stomach was no longer cooperating. It hurt from the combination of chewy running food, little water, hills, and speed. But crossing over the bridge to Sanford Stadium, I knew I could make a good time if I just held on a little longer. Mile 12 was downhill and Dopi (my shuffle... spell ipod backwards) gave me a killer rap song. I wasn't running, I was flying! We were running down Lumpkin in front of The Student Learning Center between a sidewalk of spectators and cars trying to navigate around the crazy people in bright spandex. (Us.) When I took off on the traffic side, even the cop moved out of my way and let me fly by. (Thank you, Officer!) I was running at what I thought was full speed, but needed to hold it for a half mile. I looked at my watch. 2:13 something. I remember thinking, "I can't hit 2:15, but I'm gonna run the hell out of a 2:20." Around the hedges of Sanford Stadium and back out. The corners slowed me just enough that at 2:16:45 I could see the finish line and speed up again.

2:17:10

2:17:10!!!!!!

Females 25-29, #140

...and then I puked.

It would have been puke, if there was anything in me. But it was just a dry heave. That put finish line beer out of the question, and I tried to eat pizza. Also out of the question. So I drank 2 protein shakes and walked the billion miles back to my hotel. (1.5 miles in human converts to billion in used up runner.)

Kiwi was happily calculating splits and times and whatever he does when I got back to the room. We went to the hot tub and swapped between hot tub and pool to ice my legs, then went to sleep.

Athens was a success.