Smoked that Golf Cart!

Two months ago I was at a summer workshop for high school science teachers at UF and I met this cool fellow biology nerd, Jennifer. And it turns out she was a beginning runner too- actually Jenn is much more advanced than me, she was running with a team and had already done a few 5ks. So, fast forward 2 crazy weeks of 13 hour days, nights out and not enough sleep, and we registered for a 1/2 marathon. But, it was just as a relay after all- and while I'd NEVER actually run a straight mile, I thought, "hey, it's just 5 miles...and I have 2 months, I'll manage" and my teammate had done 6 miles before, so she just had to tack on 2 more. Besides, I always make great decisions when I'm functioning on 4 hours sleep.

See, we kind of forgot that we were teachers....we were on a euphoric summer buzz. Opps.

Because we didn't factor in a few things:

ONE- we were both "beginning" runners- myself still pretty damn inexperienced, in spite of badly dabbling in the sport for the past year
TWO- it's summer, ladies....and yes it's nice and relaxing for teachers who haven't taken a breath for the entire school year, but it's hot as blazes. Yeah, fun times.
THREE-we are teachers....see, teaching isn't a job, it's lifestyle...so when the 2nd week of August rolled in, um, yeah...running wasn't a high priority. Or showering for that matter. Like I said, it's a lifestyle.

Taking all that into account I made the "grandiose" goal of staying one foot ahead of the golf cart (and not so secretly praying that the driver would be a really cute, late 20's guy who enjoys watching curvy gals butts bounce for 5 miles and would buy me a beer at the after party)

Well, I didn't get to find out who was driving the golf cart, cause I never saw the golf cart....whoot. But I'm far too ahead of myself as usual. So, let's rewind to the expo:

Umm, actually the expo was nice, but nothing amazing. 'Course, what do I know, it was my first expo, so obviously I have nothing to compare it to. Jenna, my bestie and wonderful hostess for the weekend, was so kind to accompany me, since Jennifer, my teammate, (yes, two Jenn's!) wasn't arriving until the A.M. and I get kind of nervous doing new "big" stuff like navigating the Wide World of Sports Complex. Turns out it was painless....and I resisted dropping any money at the booths since I haven't really "earned" any race stuff yet. (Expect for my awesome LuLu shorts....I will drop $50 on Reverse Groove shorts any day!)

I did think these shirts were pretty funny though, the tank says "I'm slow. I know. Get over it." And the tee says, "I'm only doing this so I can post the picture on Facebook"

Jennifer arrived the next day and after spending the afternoon writing lesson plans for our respective classes and schools, we got our gear on and headed out to Disney. 

And waited in a field for 2.5 hours! I lost Jenn at 8:30pm, when she got bussed over to our relay transition point.  In retrospect I wish I would have danced around with the other people up by the stage and just had a little more goofy fun, but I was nervous and just went into super reserved mode. 

I choose not to run with my camera-so I don't have any on sight photos, but my portion of the course was pretty simple....a straight shot down one of Disney's inner highways to Animal Kingdom, a quick round about the park and then down to the transition point, to pass it off to Jenn. I ended up walking about 3 of the 5 miles total, but I was totally hoofing it during my "walk breaks" and honestly may have been just as fast "walking" as I was "running!" Go figure! Overall, I averaged a 14:80 pace. Lots of room for improvement, but I'm ok with that.

It was great seeing the familiar faces of Kelly and Meghann and hearing Meghann's encouraging words...I had gotten pretty run down by then, but after seeing them I actually ran all the way to the transition point!  That is what is so amazing about the blogging community- even though I've only met Meghann a few times, (once before either of us had blogs!) and only Kelly once, we are involved with and supportive of each other's lives anyways. I love that about our Blogosphere!

So, how did we do?

Not too shabby! You can see how much faster Jenn is than me....she did nearly twice the distance I did, in only 30 mintues more-but I'm so pleased that we placed 305th out of 610 teams....much higher than I expected! 

Maybe the Princess Half isn't unattainable? My tight hips and sore ankles still need a few more days to think it over. Regardless, I'm taking the rest of October off from running and am excited to get back into my regular gym schedule of yoga, spinning and Body Pump, which I'd nearly abandoned getting ready for this race.

This post has gotten a bit wordy, so I'll save all my race related eats- including the Wine and Dine after party for tomorrow!

Love to all,
~the I'm still wondering if that golf cart driver was cute, but I'm glad I didn't have to meet him gal, Jess

PS. How sweet are the signs my parents posted at my parking space and on my front door, after doggie sitting all weekend? It was such a wonderful suprise, as I was a little bummed they couldn't come down for the race.