That is so EPIC!! 8/10/12

My very first big race was the EPIC.  And it was just that....EPIC.  I loved it.  It was so hard but it was worth it.  And I can see myself doing it again.  Next time I hope to be a lot healthier.

The hardest parts of the race:
- I was so sick from my episode earlier in the week.  I could still only eat 600 or so calories a day which is not near enough.
-It was so hot.
-Some of the hills were so hard.
-Absolutely no sleep at all.  Ok maybe like an hour or two.  But I am WAY too old for only an hour or two of sleep in two days.
-Being ran off the road by Semi Trucks!
-Broke my iPod

The best parts...some of the surprisingly:
-Running in the middle of the night.  Who would think that running at 4am would be refreshing?
-Hanging with my girls!  Seriously my running team is some of the best people out there.  People die never having friends like this.  We are blessed.
-Lots and lots of laughing
-The support of other runners.  Even other running teams. It was so AMAZING
-I ran 21 MILES people.  I did it.  I have a new found confidence in my running and I love it.  My body isn't yet where I want it but my running is getting there.

My first leg was a little over 9 miles.  It was so hard for a few reasons.  First, it was in the middle of the afternoon.  It was seriously about 100 degrees out and no shade.  I had not been able to eat much so my energy was low.  And then It was more up hill than I felt it was supposed to be.  It was so hard.  But I struggled through it.  After about 7 miles a storm came through and I thought oh great it is going to cool off and it did.  What I wasn't anticipating was the wind that was to follow.  It was literally blew me sideways across the street.  This was so hard.  I felt like I was running in place.  And I had sent my van up ahead so our last girl could get ready.  To my surprise an Utra team van was pulled over (Ultra team is a team that is running double what everyone else is.  We had 2 vans.  The Ultra team only has one)  One of the guys had gotten out and brought me water and ran with me for about a 100 yards.  How cool is that.  That is just how people are on this race.  We sprayed other runners with water and other vans doused our runners with water.  It is a joint effort on the road.

My second leg was a little over 7 miles.  This was by far my favorite run.  I was really surprised.  I am not a night person.  I thought I would struggle not sleeping and then trying to run so far.  But I did well.  It was a low grade down hill so that was awesome. There was ZERO wind.  And it was nice and cool.  It was great to be able to see my breath.  It was perfect.  It was cool enough that I could wear my calf sleeves so my legs felt awesome as well. There were a couple of hard parts with this leg.  One was that the semi trucks were not happy that there was a race going on.  They did not move over and there was not a shoulder of the road.  I would move over but there was not much of anywhere for me to go and I was dodging pokey brush.  When they would go by, I would feel the big woosh and they laid on their horns.  I was told later that the trucks were honking at all the runners.  I'm not going to lie, it was a little scary.  Also, there was some rather large road kill on this leg and it was smelling rank.  It was bad.  I figure that was to help me run a little faster on that mile.  :)  Right at the end of this let it started to rain and to thunder.  The thunder was so loud it was a little surreal.  It was pretty cool.

My third and final leg was a little over 3 miles and was by far my hardest most sucky run.  It was so hard.  I think it was the hardest mentally.  I thought I would be able to fight through it mentally thinking I have already ran over 17 miles I can easily do another 3.3.  But instead my mind said..... you already ran 17 miles, quit now you have passed the line of crazy.    It was another afternoon run, so once again it was really hot.  And still I haven't been able to hardly eat.  My whole run was on a bike trail this time.  At least it was paved so that was good.  But the first half I was completely isolated.  The cars couldn't follow and actually there were no runners by me either.  It was rough.  I felt very much like I was at home going for a run in the most torturous conditions just for fun.  It was everything in me just to keep running.  It was the best feeling when I got to the point of the trail when my team could meet up and give me water.  It also meant that I had just over a mile left.  So helpful.  This is also when I saw a moose crossing sign.  My thought...If I see a Moose, I quit.

I did it though.  I finished.  I was nervous that I would struggle so much more than I did.  I can't wait until next year when I can do much better.

Awesome pictures of me looking sweaty and gross to come.......