5:00am on a Saturday morning and my alarm tells me it is time to get out of my nice warm bed to go run something they call Psycho Wyco. Mmmmm, kinda makes me question my sanity but at least I am not alone as there are at least 250 others doing the same thing. So I bound out of bed (yeah right) and hit the shower. There's nothing better than a hot shower and hot coffee to get the day started!
Once there, checking into the race proved to be a frigid experience to say the least. I was freezing and I still had a layer to strip off before the start of the race. So there I was amongst all those crazy ass people getting ready to run through the woods when it was cold as hell. Okay, so hell is not cold but you get the point. I see familiar faces like Debbie, Coleen #1, Colleen #2 and Christy who all inspire me to even be there. The friendliness and great attitudes of the Kansas City Trail Nerds warm me right up and I start to anticipate the start of the race, mostly because I want to get the blood flowing.
I started slow with the ones who claim the status of "the turtles." I felt like I fit right in and like a bit of a wimp as I was only running 10 miles, which to my non running friends is, "WOW, that's crazy. I can't even run to the mail box." But to this select group it's like, "Why waste your time and money on 10 miles." Well let me tell you, it is what it is and some of us are just at that point. I do aspire to run a 50K someday and who knows where that'll take me. I am in AH of those who do run farther and just being around them and watching them totally inspires me.
I found myself running along the trail with another who was running pretty much my pace so I struck up a conversation with Greg. From that point on, we pretty much ran together through out the race. We came upon what is referred to as "the dreaded triangle." Weaving in and out, back and forth and over the tree branches was quit invigorating and kinda put a kick in my step and I found that little kid inside this soon to be 40 year old body. Coming out of the triangle, I felt good and strong but that soon faded as we headed on through the woods.
Greg and I talked for awhile and the miles seemed to go quite quickly and then Colleen caught up to us and we all ran together for awhile. It was during this phase that I fell down and of course, my first thought as I was going down was "Not the shoulder!" I was envisoining yet another dislocation of my shoulder. The shoulder survived as I just landed flat on my ass. The fall slowed me down even further as the trail was still frozen throughout this part. I slipped alot but kept upright for the remainder of the race. It was a little scary as I found myself downhill from Greg a few times and hearing the slipping of his feet. If he goes down, so do I, but he kept upright for most of the race as well.
I felt good going through the 2nd aid station and on to more slickery trail spots. Towards the end, the trail began to thaw a little and mud began to form and the splattering began. We made our way up to the third aid station where there was music and more yummy food, I stopped briefly for pringles and M&M's. I wanted to keep going though as I was only running 10 miles and didn't want to really stop. I was off towards the finish and Greg was still with me and he informed me we were getting ready to run up three hills. This was my very first time running at Wyandotte County Park so it was all new to me. It makes it more of an adventure and that is just kinda what trips my trigger. The first hill seemed a bit steep but it was doable and the second wasn't bad but then came the third and they called it the second hill. What? I am not so sure about the math here but I could have sworn this was the third hill. But what do I care and why would one really argue over a mute point. It was a doozy or else I was just a wimp, which really could be the case as I have a long way to go if I ever want to run a 50K. And then there was another hill!
I climbed the last hill and finished strong as that was not hard as it was all downhill from that point. I was proud to earn my little dogtag as I will keep it as a reminder that we all have to start somewhere, right? I made it in for some post race goodies including some awesome black bean soup that Vicki provided. Everyone at the race was extremely nice and accomadating from all the volunteers to all the runners and the dogs.
Once I was done I went with Debbie, Debbie and Julie up to the third aid station to help out. I had a great time putting faces to the names and watching all the work that goes into putting on a race and all the work that goes into running 20 miles and a 50K. Everyone looked as though they were having a great time. I was even offered a beer by Shane who doesn't even know me. Thanks Shane! What better way to spend a Valentine's Saturday afternoon than drinking beer, listening to Air Supply and watching all those muddy runners work their asses off. James also provided some awesome soups and yes, I sampled them both. The celery had a different taste though, hmmmmmmmmmm?
I was tettering on trying to help out and trying to stay out of the way. I hope I did something useful there and thanks to Debbie, who is an awesome person whom I loved hanging out with who also gave me a beer. I hope to return the favor of helping out in some races this year and push myself to greater distances and greater things. It really did inspire me more just to be involved in this race.
I made my way home where after a hot shower and some pizza I tried to ice my knees and drink a glass of wine. My kids had other ideas in store so we played instead. After they were in bed I settled in to watch MASH reruns and finally drink my glass of wine. At least I am not a whiner but I am a winer. Just then the black bean soup started to RAWR! Oh yeah, what a great day.
