I haven't done a non-book related post on Friday in a really long time. I know you are all heart broken, right? I thought I would try to get back in the groove by sharing my latest success with my second attempt at a half marathon.
Many of you might remember that I attempted my first half marathon this past April. I was pumped and excited about it and ended up being very disapointed with my performance. We had an unusually hot day and the temps just got to me and I ended up having to walk several times. My goal had been 2hrs and I finished it in 2:18.
I felt I needed to prove to myself I could finish a half so I set out to run a fall half marathon.
Before the race
I knew the Rock N Roll Marathon was the 23rd of October so I started to loosly train for that even though I hadn't signed up for it. Then another half marathon was announced in my area, the MO' Cowbell. It happened to be a couple weeks earlier and a heck of a lot cheaper, so I immediatly signed up for it.
That is one reason I haven't been as active on my blogs, I've been in full training mode since the beginning of July. I basically work out 7 days a week and it's eating in to my reading time. Plus, I'm barely sleeping for some reason, so I'm basically walking around in a fog because I'm exhausted once evening hits.
So the half...it was last weekend. I had trained for it knowing I wanted to finish it in 2 hours. It was supposed to be a mostly flat course so it should be possible since I train with hills. Then I recently ended up having some health concerns and knew I couldn't push myself. I went into the half knowing that I still wanted to do 2 hours but not set on getting it. Instead I had to pay attention to my heart rate and make sure it didn't reach 170. So that meant any little incline would make the HR go up and I would have to back off.
Start off the race, the girl in blue with the black arm warmers is
who I ran with for the first 6 miles.
Well...I started off running with a girl I met earlier in the summer doing some speedwork and then doing a series of trail runs. She's a tad faster than me on low mileage runs but we had the same pace setting out for the half. I stuck with her for 6 miles, then slowed down and walked while getting water at the 6 mile water station. It was either that or dump water down the front of me. Plus it was a chance to get the HR down a bit. She got a bit ahead of me but I was still close until mile 9. After mile 9 we hit hills and I had to take it easy and lost sight of her. While I constantly checked my garmin because I had to watch my heart rate, I didn't pay much attention to the miles or pace. I felt good the whole time. I never hit the "wall". I felt stronger and better than I did for the half in April.
When the finish line came in sight I increased my pace a bit and as I got closer I ended up going out at a pretty good clip. I knew the heart rate would go up but also knew it wouldn't be for very long.
The finish at last! (don't like how it looks like I'm walking though)
I managed to come in with an overall-all time of 1:58:11, my pace was 9:01. I was extremly happy that I not only ran the entire race, but even having to take the hills easy and not push the pace on the flat area I was able to hit my time goal. I'm definitely gotten bit by the bug, already planning to run the race next year (as long as they offer it again).
Yes, another pool party at my house. This time both sisters were able to come with their kiddo's and my Mom and her husband made it also.
I knew the one sister had a birthday party to attend earlier in the day and since her Husband had softball all day I knew she would have both kids. So I volunteered to watch the baby. It was nice..we watched tv and napped. haha! I'm guessing that's now what it's really like when you have a kid though right? :)
Don't forget, if you want to see a bigger image just click on the photo.
Not the best picture of me, but I like it anyway. My sister showed back up while I was still napping on the couch with the baby and her other son decided to lay next to me too.
All the (older) boys lined up and waiting for Uncle Husband to catch them as they jump in.
I couldn't pass up sharing this though, because I have a similar picture of one of his brother's from a pool party a year or two ago.
Now this guy knows how to relax
Doesn't that look like fun!
Last, but not least, felt it only right to share a picture of my furbaby. Myla loves to be outside with us but can only handle the heat in short spurts.
Some of you might wonder how it is I grew up to love trail running. Have no fear..I grew up camping, backpacking and hiking. It was only a natural progression. Well, I did swear off of it all for awhile but then realized I really do love being in nature. However don't expect me to camp again, I do like modern conveniences (like flush-able toilets).
Here are more of the slides that I mentioned I had converted to digital. I'm not sure where these were taken at though. As usual, don't forget you can click on the image to see it bigger.
I'm on the left by myself. My Mom is afraid of heights, as you can see my Dad wasn't and neither are my sisters and I.
I'm the one sitting in front of my Mom
Yup..that's me on top of the shade thing for the picnic table. Lord..if I tried to do that today I doubt I could manage it. haha
I can't remember if I've shared this one or not. I really like it though, not sure why. Maybe because Chris is always complaining that I'm constantly eating and here my parents took a picture of me eating on vacation.
Don't think my parents only made us camp in the summer. Oh no...we froze too. (I'm the one with that AWESOME hood)
This one is just funny...because you can tell we are freezing and all crowded around in the fire pit trying to get it started.
Baseball..or should I say T-ball? Several weekends ago Husband and I went to my oldest nephews baseball game. He gets excited when we go watch him play a sport so I always try to go to at least one (I went to two of his soccer games in the fall). After the incredibly hot baseball game we went back to my sisters house for some good BBQ and more play time.
My nephew is the one in blue running bases
This little guy is almost 1! I can't believe it.
He kept covering is face when I tried to take a picture, but then peaking through is fingers.
The two older kids have decided that their Uncle is fun to play with.
Once again my family and I participated in the Make Tracks for the Zoo 5k run/walk. This year my Mom was able to make it but one sister wasn't due to giving birth to her 2nd child not too long before that. My Aunt also came and brought her grandchild. Even though my one sister couldn't make it, my Mom and I still brought her oldest child so he could do the 5k and then hang out at the zoo with everyone.
As usual, I ran while everyone else walked. This year I did meet a new friend at the zoo so we could run it together, so that was a lot of fun. Once I finished I turned around and ran back through the course to find my family. Once I met up with them the oldest nephew decided to run a bit. Oh man! That kid is fast! There were times I was running really fast and still wasn't gaining on him. I hope to convert him to be a runner, but shhhh...don't tell anybody yet. haha
After the 5k was over my family and I hung out at the zoo. We walked a bit, then road the train, which is the best part according to the boys.
So, without further ado...here are some pictures.
Myself with the one nephew that my Mom and I brought with us since his Mom couldn't make it.
3 of the nephews excited for the 5k and waiting on the adults to get ready
Nephews, myself, and my oldest sister
The whole group! From the left..my Sister and her three boys, myself, my Aunt and her Grandson, my Mom and my other sister's oldest boy.
The nephew in the orange shirt and the coolest laugh..and when the little one reached out and touched his face he just giggled and giggled. It makes me smile just looking at this picture and remember that.
What's not to love about this hug?
How could I possibly resist them when they want to be held?
Finally, I leave you with an animal shot. The big cat is just sitting so pretty, definitely king of the "jungle".
Husband and I took a week of vacation in mid May and headed to Keystone, CO. His company has a vacation home and employees can "rent" it for a week at a time. Since he is low man on the seniority scale all the summer weeks were gone. It was either May or September and I'll be in training in September so May it was. We went from being in the sunshine and 80's in STL to being caught in snow storms in CO. Do I need to remind you that neither Husband or myself like cold weather? lol!
Husband has never hiked before, ok, maybe once or twice. I grew up vacationing in CO for 2 weeks every summer. We camped the entire time, hiked, and backpacked. So when Husband said he wanted to hike, I was nervous. I knew I could do it, I wasn't sure about him. He was a real trooper though. The trails were really hard due to how freaking deep the snow was and it was hard to follow the trails. We might have stopped often to catch our breath but we did it and we saw some beautiful views while we did.
We arrived on a Saturday and hiked that afternoon, then we hiked Sunday - Tuesday. Wednesday we woke up to it snowing and it continued to snow through Friday. We did head out Friday for a morning hike while it wasn't snowing, but even then it started snowing while we were out. It was ok with me, if you noticed I had a week or so where I finished a lot of books. This was due to sprawling on a bed or couch while it snowed quietly outside.
Instead of posting a lot of pictures, I'm just going to share my album with you. Enjoy!
(If you click on the image it will take you to the album and you can view bigger images of the photo's)
Last week my sister gave birth to her 2nd child, another son. This makes 5 kids between my two sisters...and 5 boys. Oh boy...this is going to be interesting watching them all grow up.
Here's the big brother, anxiously waiting for his baby brother to be born.
And here's Baby Cole! I'm happy to report that Mom and baby are both doing great.
Earlier this year I sent off some slides that my Mom has from when I was young and from before I was born to be scanned and the digital copies put on a CD. It's the first time we've done something like this and so I randomly picked some slide packets, held slides up to a light and selected some I thought were promising. I figured if we liked how they turned out, we could eventually do this for all the slides. I finally got the CD back mid April and some of the photo's are awesome! I'm so glad I decided to do this. I thought I would start sharing some of my favorites with you.
This is the dog edition. Enjoy!
What a picture! Those two look so miserable. They had so much fun playing in the mud but now want to come in and nap and they can't because they are messy! This picture was taken before I was born. I can't remember if Mooger, the black dog, was alive still when I was born or not. I want to say yes, but I can't remember. I'm pretty sure the St. Bernard is Baroness and I did have the pleasure of knowing her.
This is me with the first dog we had named Kelsey. I've shown you pictures of me with Kelsey before. I loved this dog, so super friendly and cuddly.
This is my Dad with Kelsey. I just love this picture. I'm not entirely sure why, I just do. It must be his expression.
Oh, and if you are interested in what company I used for the slide to digital conversion here's the info. I used ScanDigital. It was $0.68 per slide. I had a Groupon so I got it at a pretty good price. I can't remember what I paid but I think it was $50 for $100. I was nervous about sending off our slides and not ever having used the company before but I worried for nothing. The slides came back great, the product is awesome. I'm very happy with the results. My only complaint is that I sent in the slides the end of January and just received the finished product on April 18th. However, the groupon expired the end of January and I would imagine a lot of others procrastinated like I did and send in their goods in January. So they must have had a pretty high volume. Of course, I had to pay for shipping both ways..but I guess that's to be expected.
It has finally happened. I FINALLY have bookcases in my library! In October Husband finally agreed that it was time to get them. We knew that they needed to be custom built and Husband gave me a set amount for the project. Lucky for me a friend's Dad does cabinetry as a hobby and I've seen his work and he was the first (and only) person I contacted. I met with him in November and explained my idea and gave him pictures. He came up with something and came out to the house to see the location and show me what he had in mind. I agreed with a lot of his suggestions and he got to work on them.
test run to see if they really did fit
In February the (almost) finished pieces arrived at my house. I was so freaking excited! The pieces were put in the library and a test fit was done. Some things needed to be fixed, but for the most part it was going to work.
Now the hard part (for me) started. I had to stain everything. The price to have the bookcases built came in just under the amount Husband agreed on for this project. It would have been another $500 for him to stain the wood. Therefore, it was determined that I would do that. What a project that ended up being.
The unfinished pieces were dropped off February 27th. I spent every weekend in March, Saturday and Sunday, in the garage staining the shelves and putting the polyurethane on them. The weekends where I was staining I was spending 6-7 hours each day working on these. Doing the poly didn't take as long, but it was still several hours. The thing is..while it took up most of my day it wasn't too bad. Do I want to do it again? No. Would I do it again? Yes. I like knowing that I did it. There's a feeling of accomplishment. I also listened to audio books almost the whole time. Now you know why I have finished so many audio books the last couple of months and not a lot of paper books.
TA-DA!
Once the big pieces were stained and had the poly on them my friend's Dad came back out to install them. I had everything finished but the shelves themselves. There are something like 35 shelves and since I had to do both sides, they took a long time. Once he installed them I then got to work finishing the shelves so I could use them. I worked every night after work on this until they were done. I was finally finished and ready to start using them April 27th. I then spent my evenings after work taking my books out of their boxes and arranging them in alphabetical order by Author (just grouped all the A's together, the B's, etc). Then I took each letter and alphabetized them by author last name. I finally finished getting the books on the shelves on May 2nd. I did end up setting aside roughly 4 boxes of books to get rid of however I still have 10 boxes of books in the basement because they didn't fit on the shelves. I'm just not ready to part with them yet.
Oh..it feels so good to be done. The library looks so nice now. It's great to walk in that room and finally see it come to life. This is what I wanted since we bought the house.
Since you might want to know, I'll tell you. I did group most of the books together but I did separate some genre's. The young adult, non-fiction, and classics are by themselves. The rest are all together. The non-fiction is then organized not alphabetically but by type. War, true-crime, memoir, paranormal, etc. I also left room on almost every shelf for more books to be added, because I know there will be more.
I have a library case, I've shown pictures of that before. The left side of that is for the books I'm attempting to read for challenges this year. The middle section are the young adult books, alphabetical by author last name, and the right side holds review books and books I've borrowed from others.
I was taking pictures of the room last night so I could share with people and Husband came over and decided to pose for me. haha!
Right now that's where the couch is but I'm not loving the location. I'm not loving the couch actually. I won't be able to do anything else to this room for awhile, we're re-doing a ton of landscaping. However I hope to get a rug, an over-sized chair or chaise lounge or something. We might try and hang a light instead of using a floor lamp. Who knows what we'll do! All I know for now is that I have my library and it puts a smile on my face every time I walk into it now.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (if you celebrate). If not, I hope you had a wonderful Sunday. :)
My family does celebrate Easter and I have a couple of pictures from the day to share with you. (clicking on the picture will give you a bigger image)
This year these two got snorkeling equipment from the Easter Bunny. Now they can't wait to come play in my pool.
My Mom told this little guy that I refused to let her take my picture but if he sat on my lap I would.
Husband started playing with the boys not too long ago and now whenever we see them they can't wait to play with him. They don't like to take turns either.
On April 10th, 2011 I participated in my first ever half marathon. For those who aren't aware, a half marathon is 13.1 miles and a full marathon would then be 26.2 miles.
Start of the race..I'm in a pink tank top with black shorts
Yes, I'm a long time runner but I've never ran this kind of distance before. I was happy with my 3 mile runs. Then last year I decided that wasn't enough and moved up to 4 miles for my weekday runs and 5-6 for the weekend runs. Then I decided I might want to do a half marathon.
So the 10th was the day. I was confident going into the race. I had run 12 miles two weekends before that and it felt great..I was tired and my legs were weak ( I did some major hills) but I knew I could have run 13. I set a goal of 2 hours but told myself that the real goal was finishing the race, the time would just be a bonus. Then the day of the race is here. And we have unseasonably high temps. When the race started at 7am it was already 73 degrees out. By 9am it was so hot they closed the marathon course where the half and the marathon runners split. Any marathon runners who came to that point after 9am were forced to continue on the half course and call it a day. Let me tell you, I felt the heat. I don't run well in the heat and humidity that we get in St. Louis and it showed. I showed up confident and determined to have a great race, and my race sucked. My first 6 miles were great and then it went downhill.
Right after mile 6
I felt really good the first couple of miles. I had been having issues with my heal again (the one with the stress fracture) and had been worried about it. It hurt right from the start but on mile two I felt a sharp pain and then nothing. I must have eased out whatever was causing it to hurt because it felt awesome after that. Then on mile 4 I started to feel the heat. I was getting hot. I told myself to slow down. Mile 5 I'm beginning to have doubts that I could finish the race. Mile 6 I wanted to walk but knew my Mom, she drove me, was planning to be on the course somewhere in mile 7 so I couldn't walk, I didn't want her to see me. Miles 7 through 8 were all uphill. I was feeling horrible. Mentally I wasn't doing very good. I was also over-hydrating because of the heat and in desperate need of a bathroom. I finally started walking after mile 8. I just couldn't do it! I felt miserable, I was hot and my legs were tired.
I started playing games with myself...if I walk to the next light..I have to run to the light after that. If I walk for .3 miles then I have to run for .3 miles. The more I had to stop and walk, the worse I got mentally. I would work back into a run but would find myself tripping on the pavement, a sure sign that my legs were fatigued, so I would walk again.
it's kinda hard to see me..I'm waving at my Mom at the finish
Finally, I hit the 12 mile marker and I was determined to run the last 1.1 miles to the finish. I did it too. I felt bad but I pushed through it and I did it.
I can't tell you how many times I wanted to quite. I can't tell you how many times I called myself a failure for having to walk part of the course. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to sit down and cry. I had worked for this. I had trained for this. Why couldn't I do it? Yes, I was having a one woman pity party.
After the race was over I kept it together long enough to get home and then broke down crying in the bathroom as I was getting ready for a shower. I felt so bad, mentally and physically, that I crawled into bed after the shower were I dozed and just laid there for a couple of hours. I only got out of bed when I did because Husband came in and laid with me and after a couple minutes suggested we go get ice cream. Does he know me or what? He offered to take me to my favorite place for some cherry almond ice cream. It's made fresh in the store and it's the only place I know of to get that flavor and it's my absolute favorite. I then came home and made a cake to take to my Mom's since she was having the family over for dinner. I had planned to make a celebration cake but, as I told Husband, it turned into a "I walked but I didn't quite" cake.
Crossing the finish line..finally
I was still feeling pretty bad Monday but by Monday night I was doing much better. By Wednesday I was finishing with the pity party. I belong to a website called DailyMile (you're welcome to be my friend if you belong too!) and I posted my sob story. The support I received was amazing. I can't even begin to tell you how good it made me feel.
My friends on DM made me realize that while I had to walk, I didn't quite. I did finish the race. I completed my first ever half marathon! I couldn't do anything about the temperatures and I was smart by listening to my body and walking when I realized I was suffering. I could, and should, be proud of myself for what I completed. And you know..they were all right. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I should embrace the race. Realize that I completed it and set my sights on the next one. I know have a PR (personal record). I can tell people that I completed a half marathon and I can be proud of that.
Finish..medal around my neck.time to go home
What also helped me realize that I did the right thing was reading news articles and watching news clips on the race, as well as talking to others. I talked to a couple co-workers who also ran it and they both had to walk. They both mentioned seeing people drop out of the race. Husband talked to a co-worker of his that runs and that guy said he knew two people running the marathon. Both he would consider very strong runners, both dropped out. One dropped out at mile 6. Watching the news report I learned that over 100 people were treated for dehydration, 20 taken to hospitals. I was not one of them. I did not drop out of the race. I did not quite. I walked when I felt my body needed it and I completed it. I'm proud of what I did. It take me some time to be comfortable with this but now I embrace it.
You know, we all have good days and bad. The 10th was a very bad racing day for me. However it's not the end. I'll continue to run and I'll continue to work towards the tougher runs. We have another half in October and while I haven't signed up for it yet, I plan to. I have a PR, I need to beat it.
For those of you who might be interested in, here are my stats for the race: Finish time: 2:13:18 Overall place: 4,217/11,535 Female place: 1,863/7,086 splits according to my Garmin: 8:45, 8:27, 9:01, 8:25, 9:01, 9:29, 9:47, 10:10, 11:46, 11:35, 12:19, 11:59, 10:00
Here's a video from a local news channel that covers a part of the race. The funniest thing is that they interview the men's winner of the half and he said the heat didn't bother him but the wind did. I can tell you that every time I felt a breeze, I could usually hear several people go "ah..that feels good". haha
I have a new camera so my friend and I took Myla to a local park Wednesday to take pictures. He got a new dslr and let me know he was selling his current one and offered it to me. He knew I've been wanting a dslr for a long time and the price was good so I jumped at the chance. So we were both armed with new camera's and itching to use them. Myla turned out to be the perfect subject. We were the only ones in the open field and I let go of her leashing, expecting her to take of running. She didn't though, she laid down and posed.
We also walked the trails a bit and Myla was worn out. She loves her evening walk but she doesn't like to go far. I made her go pretty far. Once we got home she waited for me to let her up on the couch and then she slept the night away.
Sorry for being relax in posting my Friday Smile posts. I've either been dealing with some fatigue issues or other issues. haha!
I don't have any pictures for today but have a story for you. My husband didn't find it amusing or even understand why I was freaked out, but his comment was funny. So I'm going to share the story with you and hopefully you understand why I was freaked and I think you'll enjoy his comment.
The Story:
I was running at Castlewood State Park this past Sunday. I was running the trails and was roughly 5 miles into the run. Due to all the snow we had the day before and the fact that the ground wasn't really cold enough for it, it was incredibly muddy. Most people were smart and didn't run at the park because of this and in those 5 miles I had only seen one other person. So it was very isolated.
So what happened? I saw a pair of hiking boots on the trail. Weird, but ok. Maybe somebody was hiking and had an extra pair and they fell out of their pack. However a bit further I saw two water bottles. The caps were off, they were empty, and they were laying off the side of the trail. This was freaky. I stopped and took my headphones out and listened. I didn't hear anything. I looked around but didn't see anything. I start freaking out. Why would somebody drop this stuff or just leave it. Who would leave their shoes and water bottles? I immediately start thinking that something bad happened. I try to pick up my pace and go faster but due to the mud I couldn't really go much faster. Further down the trail I see a pair of gloves on the trail. Further down I see a vest with a thermal shirt.
When I got down to the road I ran to the ranger station and saw an ambulance but before I got there the ambulance and ranger drove off. I completed my run and on my way out the park I stopped at the ranger station.
There was a guy and two teenagers at the station talking with the Ranger. I told the ranger that I didn't know if this had anything to do with the ambulance from earlier but I passed a pair of hiking boots, water bottles, and other items on the trail. Perfect timing. The guy and teenagers were there to find the items. I don't know exactly what happened, but they said she, so I assume it was the guys wife and the kid's Mom. They mentioned that she must have gotten lost. It was lucky that I was able to point out where the items were on the map so they could find them.
I have no idea what happened to the lady, didn't feel it was my place to ask. I'm glad I was able to help though.
So that's my story. Do you understand why I was freaked out? Being all alone on the trail and finding that stuff strewn along the trail..not exactly close together either. I was freaked thinking something had happened to the lady and that a murderer or somebody was still out there and would get me next. ha!
I told my Husband this and he just looked at me and said "You read too many mysteries." Lol! I actually think that's pretty funny. As luck would have it I was reading a mystery at the time. He found it funny that I was freaked..yet continued my run (another 6 miles). I said that when I saw the ambulance but no police cars, I felt pretty positive that there wasn't a murderer on the loose.
What about you? Would you have gotten a bit freaked and thought something wasn't right? Or would you have just thought somebody got warm or something and decided to drop their stuff?
The Castlewood Cup is a local 15k (9.3 mile) trail run in my area. It's held at a local state park, Castlewood. I actually live right by the park and run there on the weekends, weather permitting. I ran cross-country in highschool and love trail running. I have to run streets during the week but on the weekend, I'm not happy unless I can get to a park and run.
The trail run was this past weekend, February 26th and luckily I was able to run it with a friend. This 15k trail run was pretty tough. It would have been tough no matter what, but factor in the horrible training I've had and I knew it was going to be tough. I ran a 10 mile race in November that left my heal hurting (due to a heal fracture that still bothers me) and I didn't run for a week or two. Then in December I got a cold and took it easy. Then we were getting lots of ice and snow. Then the end of January I had an out patient surgery and I couldn't do anything for a week. Well, really, I should have rested for more than a week but I was itching to be active. So while I did start running again..I had to keep my mileage light because of pain and a risk of making my incisions worse. So coming up on a 9.3 trail run, I had only been averaging 4-5 miles. The week before I did run 7.1 miles at the park and I did the majority of the course and I felt somewhat better about the race.
I'm in black with a blue shirt
Why do I tell you my sob story? I want to give you the background so that when I tell that I 1)finished the race and I wasn't last 2)ran the entire race...didn't walk up any hills and 3)felt horrible the last couple of miles but still kept at it, you'll know just how happy that all makes me! My time was slow and normally that's something that would upset me, but knowing how bad my training had been...I'm not letting it get me down. I completed the course, I ran up all the hills (I'm still surprised by the large amount of people I passed walking up all the hills), and I ran the entire course. Oh, just in case you were wondering, my pace was 10/21 min/mile. I wanted to be under 10. My last mile was actually 9:08, which really surprised me since I was so tired. I knew my pace would be slower due to the hills (my pass was a bit over 11 on a couple of the hills) but I had hoped to make up time on the downhills and flats. Oh well, there's always next year!
Here's how the company describes the course: Big River Running Company is proud to announce the third annual Castlewood Cup. The race will be a true test of trail running with a 15k course that includes uphills, downhills, switchbacks and even a creek crossing. The course was designed by local trail running gurus Skip MacDowell and Blair Porter and they made sure to make things exciting for you
Husband had decided to come along and I made him bring the camera. He's not a runner, doesn't get it, doesn't like cold weather (neither do I!) but he was a sport. He even moved around a bit on the course so he could snap different pictures. He couldn't walk to most of the trail..but he could to some areas that were by the road.
Oh..and my fear of being last? No worries there! I came in 192 out of 322. I was the 45th girl, out of 112.
The dreaded creek crossing. Ok..really..I thought the creek crossing would be fun (and it was) but at the same time it was really cold, mid 30's that day, and we had received a lot of rain earlier in the week. I was worried about how high the creek would be and also paranoid I would fall in it.
Ta-da! No falling for me!
The finish..at last!!!!
After the race....standing near the heat lamps but still shaking from the cold.
