Saturday

Yesterday was the longest day in the entire world. It started at 6:00 a.m. when the alarm went off and it ended at 1:00 a.m. when I fell into bed unable to move a single muscle in my entire body.

Why wake up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday? Because last summer we got the wild idea that we were going to run the Triple Crown of Running here in Louisville. The final "leg" is the Papa John's 10 miler and that was yesterday. So we wake up, get things set up for the babysitter and fight with Spencer's shoe chip which is NOT co-operating at all and I hit a small roadblock that sets us back a bit. (Surprise! It's been about 2 weeks since I weened Claire, and well, my 21 month vacation is over.)
We were supposed to be out the door by 7:00 but are only 15 minutes behind so that's not so bad. We did not anticipate the traffic jam that we would hit getting off the exit. I guess when 8,000 runners are all trying to get to the start line at the same time, then there will be traffic issues. This puts us waaaay behind. We park and start walking to the start line. It is FREEZING outside. Really, it's only 48 but the wind is that cold, ugly wind that pierces straight to your bones. Now at this point I'm just begging for a reason to turn around a go back home. If not for Spencer I would have made a bee line to the nearest Cracker Barrell and called it a day. But we kept going and made it to the start line. I think we were the last people to cross the start (they had already taken the chip strip off and were in the process of taking down the start line itself). But we started nonetheless and it was okay. The treeline of Southern Parkway blocked the wind and I started to warm up. I finally caught up to a group of walkers and could see people ahead of me so I didn't feel like I was running completely by myself. I started thinking positively - perhaps I could actually finish this thing. At the 2 mile mark I checked my watch and saw I was at 20:30 which is a great pace for me. Woo Hoo! And then I neared the park. I had heard tales about the "hill" in Iroquois park. No worries. I will run as much as I can, and then I'll walk the rest and run down. I started into the park feeling good. Small incline - no big deal. And then it got steeper. And steeper. And at one point I promise I was running at a 90 degree angle upwards. So I walked. Quickly. Up, up, up. And I saw the top of the hill. And I focused. And I made it. And then I rejoiced. Loudly.
Quick sidenote - Runners come in all personality types. The serious ones keep their heads down and never look up. But there are many who try to talk and make jokes and keep spirits up of those running around them. Usually I'm not that gregarious, but I thought I'd try a little "yeah we made it up the hill!" with a hand clap to celebrate.
And NOT ONE PERSON acknowledged me. This hurt my feelings a little but I shoved it off. Perhaps I was in a group of serious people. But no. There is a secret. Something that they all knew and I did not. Iroquois park does not have but one hill. I rejoiced all the way down that first hill. Doing my happy little trot thinking that it wasn't bad at all. Until I saw the next hill. And the next. And the next. Iroquois park has many hills. Ugh.
Somehow I got throught the park. Back on Southern Parkway I did a quick body check. I had just passed mile 6. Legs felt good. Breathing felt good. Nice FLAT course lay ahead. Okay. I can do this.
Two minutes later my body started yelling at me. I did not train very well for this race. I had been doing okay with keeping up with my small runs but had not done a long run since the 10K. A 10K is 6.4 miles. This is the exact spot where my body said, "excuse me, shouldn't you be stopping now?" And I had to say, "umm, no, we have 3.5 more miles to go". Body didn't like that answer.
Got to mile 7 okay.
Legs turned to lead around mile 8.
Began run/walk. Run to that tree. Now walk to that sign. See that man up there? Run until you pass him, then you can walk until you make it to the corner.
Mile 9.
Hurting. Really hurting. Running hurts. Walking hurts. Why didn't I train better for this? I just want to lie down. But if I do that the paramedics will come and I don't want to cause a scene. Just keep going. Run/Walk/Run/Walk
Mile 9.5
See the race photographers. Try not to look like I'm dying. Smile while running.
Mile 9.8
Run into the stadium towards the finish line. Get crazy sudden burst of energy. (what??) Don't know how or where but feel okay the last 100 yards. Cross finish line. Revisit idea of lying down but settle for stretching calf muscles that are threatening to seize up at any moment.

And that was only the beginning of my day.

Next - we came home, took a shower, went to 2 birthday parties, 1 tee ball game, grocery store shopping, cleaned house for Easter dinner, made two pies, two casseroles, three loads of laundry, ironed Easter clothes for the next morning and finally went to bed.

Our Easter Sunday service was very nice and we had a wonderful time with friends who came to our house for dinner (pics above).