Thanks to
everyone for their support and well wishes for the race I ran today!
Tracy - Yeah, that's the working title for this years trip since our two main goals are to ride Expedition Everest and find a bunch of Hidden Mickeys. It's funny you mentioned the heat...last year DD was complaining of 80 degree weather all summer. Somehow...magically....the 80-90 degree heat in WDW was "not that bad out" LOL!
I guess it's a little different when you are doing something fun!
Amy - You are so awesome!! Thanks so much for the encouraging words. I didn't put it in my report, but when I was running up those hills I just kept thinking "you are laughing at me now, but I'm gonna kick your a## when I run back down you"
I have to say that it made them much easier! If it weren't for you I think I'd still be really struggling with them....thanks!!
Just for the record, I'm picking Barbaro to win today's Kentucky Derby.
On to the race report....
Library Run 5k - Saturday May 6th
After taking another day off on Friday, I woke up early Saturday morning feeling really good. I was a little nervous and anxious but not as bad as I was for the Hoya and the Hare race a few weeks ago. At least I knew what to expect this time! I was up around 6am and made it out the door by 6:45 to begin my trek into the North Georgia mountains and the little town known as Ball Ground.
After a nice 20 minute drive that allowed me to watch the sunrise over the mountains, I exited the interstate and saw the banners directing the way to downtown where the race was being held. The weather was awesome....very sunny, low humidity, slight breeze and temperatures in the upper 50s/low 60s. I made my way to the community center and parked there, even though the flyer stated there wasn't any parking at the center...guess plans changed a little. Anyway, I went in and got my number (#415....which I liked...15 is a lucky number for me...and also 4 and 15 are part of the numbers on Lost...hmmm.....maybe I'll see Kate for some pre-race Jungle Romancin'...oops....wife will probably read this....just kidding honey!
as long as there aren't any Dharma Initiatve logos on the water, I guess it'll be ok) and picked up my race t-shirt and goodie bag. Person behind the desk said there were about 150 people signed up which made their largest turnout in the 5 years that the race has been run.
Anywho, I did some warm up walking on a track around the ball field and it was soon time to line up for the race. I positioned myself in the middle of the pack and at 8:04am (thanks Polar monitor) the race began. We went up a small hill...thru the flat downtown and began our ascent up the first big hill that led us past the elementary school. I was feeling it about 4 minutes in and had planned to run 4r/1w intervals but since no one was walking yet, I pushed on and didn't stop until we made it over the hill and to another flat area around minute 7. I took a 1 minute break and began up the next hill. Upon conquering that hill, I reached the 1 mile point and was pleased to hear 9:15 as I ran by. My heart was racing like it was on Thursday so I slowed down and walked a few times as I approached the 15 minute mark. Soon I reached the turnaround and told myself that it was all downhill from there....I took another brief walk break and pushed on to the 2 mile mark where I heard 20:25 being called out. Now, quick head math told me that if I could pull off the last 1.1 miles in 9:35, I could come in under 30 minutes....I was excited but very winded and had to take another walk break or two during my flat/downhill/flat/downhill run for the finish.
When I got to the point where I could see the finish line, I knew that I'd have to sprint to make it...so I gave it everything I had left in the tank. Unfortunately, I didn't break 30 minutes but I did finish at 30:12 which was way better than I thought I could do on this course. I turned my card in and went to do a cool off walking lap around that ball field track. I was really pleased with finishing over 3 minutes better than I did during the last race but have to admit that I was disappointed at coming sooo close to breaking the 30:00 mark. I can look back and think of where I could have picked up 12 seconds....I think if I would have just skipped one walk, I could have done it. Oh well, I finished and did good so I really had nothing to complain about.
I got some water, a banana and a chocolate chip cookie and sat down...all of this of course after stretching out a bit...and went over my HR monitor data. I kind of freaked when I saw that my max HR was 198!! I averaged 179 for the race which was right about were I was for the Hoya race. My times were 30:12 overall...splits were 9:15/11:10/9:47.
After sitting a while, they called the people for the fun run and led them to its starting line. The fun run consisted of parents and kids....kids like 4 & 5 years old...along with some under 10 kids running solo. I was kicking myself for not bringing my daugther along. I could have run with her and she would have loved being able to cross the finish line chute after an easy sub-1 mile run. I went and cheered on the little ones as they made their way to the finish. My favorite moment was watching a little girl who was around 4 years old sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" while she ran and held hands with her dad. I made a mental note to call ahead to all future races and see if they have events like this...it is exactly what I'm looking for to get my daughter involved.
They did the awards and had a door prize raffle (which is why I hung around) but I didn't win anything so I went back to the car and made my way home.
Overall I confirmed my suspicion that I am now addicted to competing in running events. I've come a long way in two short months....from couch/tv/ice cream/fast food to exercise/tv/apples/healthy lunches (hey...I'm allowed to still watch tv!!)....from walking once or twice a week with the dog to running 3 times a week and working out 2 other days....from wishing I could do something with my life to realizing that I can do anything I put my mind to, including running a marathon.
Off to go cut the grass and take the dog for a walk....and find some more events to run in.
I know that you will do a great job! Go Scott! Go! 
My kids are so excited to be going to WDW in September! I'm a little concerned about how they will handle the heat though because according to my DD5, the 75 degree weather we had this week is "just too hot!" 
DH and I watch together and he has been travelling so much we are behind. We watched the clip show last night, so now we are only one week behind.
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Thanks for the support! Some shout outs before the update....
. That's all I'm going to say about that LOL! 
. If you do all those runs over the next few months you're going to be a race veteran! 
That is awesome! 
So far, so good! Thanks again, Scott! 
. I am very excited about TnT though b/c my Grandmother, who really helped raise me, died from Lymphoma and that is the charity that TnT runs for. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America I believe. 
