Slowly But Shirley I Go: Turtle Race

This is a long post, grab a glass of water and experience my 3rd race!

I am having a post-race love-hate relationship with the Turtle Race.

J and I drove to Roswell on Sunday. We checked out the course, then met our new friend Bob to pick up our packettes and clarify some points of the race.

With the new 411 from Bob we drove the course again and found J's cut off to the hiway and turn around point which she would find after climbing this mountain, wow!

("Little Bill" asked what J was doing stopping in the middle of the race to take photos! He has no faith in us!)

We checked into our hotel, went to eat, got our stuff ready and went to bed.

We were both up before the crack of dawn (4am) knowing we would have to find a place to park and get J ready for her race at 5:30

Everybody was flashing with various kinds of running lights, on caps, shoes, shirts, belts. Five lighted bicycle guys would lead the marathoners.

J took off and I went to my designated place to await her arrival to exchange drink packs and other needs she might have (and oh boy did she have needs ..lol..she explains in her blog) at the almost halfway point.

Here's the view (very Roswell alien looking) of her as she came up the hiway

After getting J on her way for her next half of the race I went to get ready for my race.

This was my first time being all alone running a race I was very nervous and I totally panicked when they changed the race start to the street. I'm trying to relax and breathe when the race starts and we run a block turned left and run a block turned left and run a block (yes we went in a circle) right back to where we started and then proceed onto the running trail. I'm already off kilter and having to run around the block in a pack put me off my intervals at the very beginning of the race. I'M PANICKING! In a very short time I am all alone and talking to myself "just get a rhythm". All along the trail I am playing games in my mind, just run to that tree, run to that incline, walk up this incline and then sprint down...then I look at my garmin and realize I had changed the screen that had the time on it and I would only know how many intervals I had passed and what my average pace was. So I continued playing games in my mind and calculations (math is really not my strong point, remember I'm the one that had to write intervals on my arm before I got my garmin).

Enough of that, I got to the near end of the race and J was waiting for me, it was sure great to see a face I knew!

I really was all on my own (sing "all by myself, don't want to be, all by myself... anymore") and then I saw it, the finish line and I took off for it

I bettered my last Roswell 5K time by 3 minutes, J bettered her last 1/2 marathon time by 18 minutes!

Here we are post race waiting on them to call our names for a door prize, which they didn't so we went back to the motel, showered, packed and started home. A 2 hour drive in a car after running leads to very stiff bodies, but we had lots of laughs and it seemed only a short time and our trip was over!

Now for the love-hate. I love that I can call myself a runner;