Race Day! My first Half

If you're not into running, you're probably saying "half of what"? It was my very first half marathon. That's right - 13.1 you've-got-to-be-kiddin'-me miles.

*Yesterday I forced myself out of a not so restful slumber at 5:00 a.m. and was on the road by 6:00 a.m. headed to Dallas's White Rock Lake. After dealing with the snoozing cops working the traffic and parking and the long line at those cute little potty cans, I made my way to the starting line.

What a beautiful day! Temperatures were in the 60's as the race started and in the 70's a little over 2 hours later when I crossed the finish line with a slight lump in my throat. I'm not sure why the lump appeared; probably swallowed a canary. Or maybe I just so very happy to be finished!

Although I've lived in this area all of my life, I have never been to this lake. It's gorgeous and what little fall color we are experiencing down here was out in full force. Part of our course was through a neighborhood with nice homes and gardens including little kiddies and folks in bathrobes waving us on!

There was one guy that may have been a wee bit stressed out over the event. He was attempting to cross the course in his recently washed and shiny convertible but the cop at the intersection stopped him as the street was full of runners (well duh). OMG! I thought he was going to have a stroke and then I think he "bumped" the cop! DUDE, WHERE IS YOUR BRAIN? She called for back-up. Several of us joked that maybe he was late for church ;-)

I saw a tree full of hawks scouting the race participants for their next meal.

Later there was a bridge that felt like the earthquakes we've had were still going on. It wobbled from the pounding of dozens of runners. Then, there were some confused non-race runners that decided that our course was now their course.....going opposite the pack. Hum.....why not just turn around and join the crowd and draft off a few of us?

Earthquake in Texas you say? Yep. We had several late last week. They were about 3.0 on the Richter scale and the tremors are still happening. Unfortunately I've missed them all as I'm a bit north of the main shaking area.

Back to the race: I felt great although there was much less bounce in my step during the last 3 miles. There were several ambulances at the finish line and one poor guy was being loaded up on a stretcher. He was soaked in sweat and shaking. Maybe he was hanging out with some of the humor bloggers the night before and had a wee bit too much liquid refreshment?

Seriously I hope he is OK.

Other racers are usually very entertaining at these events but there wasn't much spectacle at this race. I didn't meet Mr. Stinky, Miss Fall-Out-Of-Her-Clothing, Mr./Mrs. Weird-Outfit (except the guy wearing his afro wig and tie-dye shirt) or Mr./Mrs. Dumbass (idiots that won't let you pass them).

In support of the upcoming election, I even let this patriotic mouse wear my medal! No, I didn't WIN anything but you get a medal when you finish. Now that's my kind of race! Surely Mr. Mouse is cute enough for a smiley.

*Now for the "Ah-So-Sweet" mushy stuff: Hugs and kisses to poor hubby who got up and accompanied me to the event and hung-out for 3+ hours with no beer and only a limited number of hot babes to check out.

For more craziness from really warped folks, check out humorbloggers.com and humor-bloggers.com.