Ryan's Run 3/26/11

I debated about this race and really wanted to have a "redemption race" after the bad deal at Gasparilla. The boys were going to be at the Father/Son Campout and I really had wanted to sleep in. But I decided about a week before that I was going to do it. I told my friend from church Lisa about it and she said she would run with me. Also my friend, Jack was in town, so he went with us too. He was our photographer! lol

Here we are on our way to the race from the parking garage to the starting line.

This was the starting line. Kindof random! Middle of the street, no clear marking and on cobblestone.

And we are off! Not sure if you can actually see me, but I have the pony tail with my blue headband on. Too many white shirts to use that description! lol
So the whole way we were kindof at the back of the pack. But we got to the 1 mile mark at 12:30ish, which was far faster than I have ever done it in a race. We hit the 2 mile mark about 27 something. However, the last mile I fell apart...I am not sure what happened, I felt good and we ran almost the entire first two miles. I ran 20 mins without stopping...have never done that before...17 mins was the most and that was the Thursday before the race while practicing. But somehow my body gave out and Lisa wasn't overly pushing me, she was letting me call the pace. (Good and bad! lol)

It ended up that EVERY SINGLE PERSON passed us (all 338 participants). The only people behind us were the cops! ROFL Yep, the last 1/3 mile the cop followed behind us in his cruiser. lol We were the very last people to cross the finish line. My time you ask...45:05. Ummmmm yeah not the best, but certainly not a last place finish time! Every other race I have ran 45 mins has been towards the end but definitely not last!!!! lol

In the end I had to realize this was a charity race for a boy who was killed in a drive by shooting. He was a cross country and track star at the University of Tampa. So the people that knew about it were mostly serious runners. Those that run all the time and do it competitively. I was still upset that my race was slower than my personal best in a race and much slower than the time I had run it in during my practice just two days before. Not really sure exactly what happened, but hoping I can continue to practice and do better next season! Yes the season is over for me as the summer is waaaaay too hot here in FL for me to run. (This was at like 8:30am and it was pretty cool on this day and look how red my face is...could you imagine if it was 9am and 90 degrees out?!?! lol)

We enjoyed a great post race party! It started very slow (hardly any food or drink) but then it got going and they had french toast sticks, cereal, egg mcmuffins, yogurt, OJ, milk, fruit, etc. It was really good. :-)