In A Word!...

Incredible! Amazing! Invigorating! Challenging! Fun!!! Oops that's five words... But ONE for each kilometer!

That was seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life! At least in recent years. It has been SO LONG since I've experienced a rush like that! Back in the days of performing, I felt it all the time but maybe the only time I've felt it to this extent was when I finished my first performance of A Chorus Line after having survived it!

Anyway, there really are no words and I want to be able to continue doing this for a really long time!

The morning started off horribly. Just even sticking with my commitment to get out of the house by 5:30 am was a challenge, but I made it out of my driveway a few minutes before. At first it felt like a rather mild and ok morning with only an occassional sprinkle on my windsheild, but then about halfway there the rain came pouring down and it was dark and all the stoplights were flashing manaically and the few other cars on the road were whizzing past me spraying rainwater. Had no idea what lane I was in! Since I had driven downtown yesterday at least I knew about all the road closures and construction going on so I made my escape off Fulton as I approached downtown on my way to find a place to park. At one point I turned the wrong way down a one way street. Thank goodness I didn't realize it until I could make a quick escape... and that there were no cars coming. Finally after winding my way around the block a couple of times I decided to park at a meter on the Lyon Street hill next to the GRCC campus (at least that felt sort of familiar.) But I wasn't 100% sure that the meters were free on Saturdays, especially since there wasn't another single car parked there. No seriously, there were no cars driving around or parking at all! It felt like a ghost town!

I locked my car (after turning my wheels towards the curb)and headed down to DeVos Place with umbrella held high! On my way, I encountered numerous passages blocked by chainlink fences as well as countless ankle deep water puddles and still very few people. I can't tell you how badly I was tempted to just go back to my car and drive back home to the safe haven of my warm, dry bed! (Before I might not have a car to come back to!)

But as I got closer to the staging area I began to see race volunteers going about their preparations, setting up tents and provisions along the finish line, covered in trashbags for protection from the rain.. and I thought "If THEY can do this then so can I!"

There was seriously no better feeling than entering DeVos Place. Warm and Dry!... with a number of runners already there. (A half hour later you couldn't even turn sideways in that "place"!)

It was great (and very comforting) seeing so many of my good Fifth Third friends working the "Situations" area... :)

And I just cannot say enough about all the wonderful volunteers at the Information Desk (who confirmed that meter parking WAS free on Saturdays!) and at Geer Check (who let me check my huge umbrella even though it didn't fit into my assigned plastic drawstring bag...)

I could probably go on and on about the excitement of getting ready to run. I must have gone to the potty and retied my shoes a dozen times each!

Then on to the starting line, where I chose to line up somewhere between the 11 and 12 mph pace groups and where I met a couple of other friends from work and got to chat for a while to calm my nerves. Oh and also, by some force of good nature it had also pretty much stopped raining for the most part...

Staggered Start... I think I started running at about 7:06.

I must be somewhere in here!

Running... (So, when did I start liking this?)

It took me about 5 minutes to remember that running is really, really hard! But those first few minutes were... Incredible!

There were police cruisers at every intersection with their lights flashing and that's when it hit me that they had closed down all the major streets of Grand Rapids for a whole morning so that we could do this! The logistical planning of it all?... Amazing!

And then I was just running along with my music and to the sounds of spectators cheering. Dodging in an out, avoiding, leaping, jumping... and at times even dancing almost! :) There are simply no words! Oh yeah...Invigorating!

But I have to admit that I was never so thankful in my life when I began to see the occasional walker, because I SO did not want to be the first! And I wasn't!

I'm having a hard time remembering it all. I do remember weaving around some of those areas I'd visited last September during ArtPrize, and running the overpass over I96. The volunteers at the half point Aid Station were holding out cups of water and Gatoraid to us, and even though I didn't feel like I needed one, I still grabbed one...

Up around mile 2 there were some pretty hefty inclines, but I still kept going as hard as I could.

Running over the 6th Street Bridge was really cool!

That last long stretch down Ionia was... Challenging! Because it was not only the last mile but because it had also started pouring again. But listening to Ingrid Michaelson helped!

Short little cut away thru Monroe Mall and up Ottawa past the clock. I saw that it said 7:39 so I knew I had totally exceeded my goal of 39:10! (I started at 7:06!)

Crossing the Finish Line was so much Fun!!! Even though I honestly felt like I was going to throw up or pass out. But I didn't.

And after that, the whole experience was... still such an experience! The Michelob Ultra Finish Fest! Mingling with friends (and strangers!) Witnessing the Elite Athletes finishing their 25k's! Wow! I am so totally hooked on this now!

The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have had someone to run with! Maybe next year!

Anyway, to put things into perspective... amongst all genders and ages I was:

2390th out of 3694 overall...
1218 out of 2184 women...
22 out of 63 women in my age group (60 to 64)...

So to place in the top three in my gender/age division (and to win an award!) I would only need to shave about 4 minutes off of my time... and I can totally do that!

Next year!

Competitive much? :)