You Did It!

"You did it! You did it!
You said that you would do it,
and indeed you did!
I thought that you would rue it,
I doubted you'd do it.
But now I must admit it
That succeed you did!"


I should get a medal ... wait, I did!


Here are all the details on the Bud E. Bee Boo Run that nobody's really interested in. First, I don't really want to do another running event all on my own. Everyone else there either had a team or had people there to support them. The nice thing about this one was that it was a community event and a few people were really nice, and the beneficiaries were the mentally handicapped—and they were the super sweet people handing out water and Gatorade. Also the ones bestowing medals at the finish line (yay!).

I should say that with all I've read and observed about runners, I was not in denial about the fact that I'm slow—really, really slow. However, I didn't exactly plan on being the very last to finish, and about a fourth of the way through the run, I realized that I might be the last to finish. The good thing was that I had paced myself well enough that I could increase my speed over the second half. In fact, I left 6 people in the dust, and the last 2 miles were probably my fastest. That was a little surprising, but definitely in a good way. I think I'll employ the same strategy when I do a full Marathon.

Well, actually, when I do a full Marathon, I don't think I'll worry about speed at all. I think I'll let myself come in dead last if that's what it takes to finish.

Doing a half Marathon really wasn't that hard. Not, at least, any harder than tacking on an extra mile to my weekly run. I remember someone saying that it's the training that's hard, not the actual event. I would have to agree. It's taken a lot more discipline and concentration than I've put into very many things before.

A few other random things I observed about the experience—I picked a good location. This little town had lots of gradual ups and downs. The hills were slightly challenging, but I just leaned forward, switched to the next song on my iPod, and kept going. One hill in particular looked very long and steep from a certain vantage point, but by the time I got to it (both times), it hardly even seemed like a hill. Interesting.

Also, they have it arranged so that when you get a drink of water you can just throw your cup on the ground. I don't care to do that, even though I know it's socially acceptable in that situation. So I just crumple my cup and hold it in my hand until I get to a trash bin. I realized that I like having something to hold in my hand. It's comforting and encouraging, for whatever reason, to hold my iPod in one hand and a crumpled up cup in the other.

Until the wax coating on the cup deteriorates and the paper starts to come off on your skin.

But by that time, I had usually found a trash bag. I guess when you don't have a person to hold your hand, you resort to cardboard cups. Hehe.

One other very funny part was that when I was nearing the finish line and everyone was cheering for me, the finish line sort of collapsed. It was one of those plastic air-balloon finish line arches, like a piece of a bounce house or something. Well, it fell over. But they got it back up just in time for me to run under it. That was great fun.

Finally, here are the credits:

Heavenly Father, for giving me EVERYTHING, including a healthy body and lovely weather to run in.

My family, who even though several of them could have cared less, still pretended to support me.

Florence Welsh, for her amazing voice and cool harp mixed with drums.

Howard Shore, for the trailer music to Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King

"Sweet Disposition," by Temper Trap

Apple, for inventing the iPod classic, in which I can store my entire music library and lots of movies, as well as create a nice playlist for running.

New Balance, for selling a bra that doesn’t cut me

Asics, for great running shoes

Old Navy, for cool stretchy yoga shorts

Everyone who offered sweet, inspiring words of encouragement