Flying PIG!!!

So my view on running has changed so significantly I can't even begin to tell you...but...of course, I will try!  :)  I hadn't posted much about my training on here because 1. I didn't know if I would go through with it and 2. I didn't train as much as I should of because it was rainy and yucky so much of the time I was supposed to be running...so, needless to say, VERY little training went into this run.  Though I kept in shape cardio wise with zumba, some running, and elliptical machines, I didn't do my long runs on the weekends like I should have...

When I began training I was thinking, ugh!  A mile???  Now I think...1-2 miles is a SHORT run!  Weird how perspective can change.  

So, I will just tell you my mindset in the past few days leading up to the race and the race itself...I find it all quite amusing at times...

A couple of days ago, when I realized none of my family or boyfriend was going to be at the race, I was bummed.  I still am kind of but I am SO glad to have had Karen and Lucia with me!  We began this journey together and I am so blessed to have them as friends!  It is times like this when you realize who is really WITH you if ya know what I mean!

Yesterday I went to the Flying Pig Expo, by myself, as I had to work in the evening when Karen and Lucia were going to attend.  So, I drove to downtown Cincinnati around lunchtime on a Friday...PARKING!!!! UGH!  So...I drove around several blocks and finally found a place...and walked to the convention center.  Once I was there I thought, "I sure hope I can find my car later!"  So...I went through, registered, got my shoe tag, my t-shirt, saw my friend Daren Wendell who works with a GREAT organization www.activewater.org.  And I left, thankfully, I was able to find my car right away!  It was also SUCH a beautiful day to walk downtown!  So...I was SUPER pumped up and ready for what the next morning would bring...yet I still had to work a shift at Starbucks...

So, I worked, and it was fine...I designed some special addition Starbucks cups for Karen, Lucia and I with pigs...they were SUPER cute!  I got off work at 11:15pm and went home to make my playlist for the run!

When I got up this morning at 5:15 I was pretty tired but I pressed on, ate a banana, dressed in a stupor and headed to Lucia's to pick her up and meet Karen and some other girls (my new friends) at church at 6:30!

We got to the race, crossed a bridge on foot to Cincinnati, from Kentucky...if you don't know...I have a FEAR of bridges...and...I had to cross 2 BRIDGES during the run...cried when I crossed one of them that a train was crossing at the same time...and then crossed BACK over the one to Kentucky after the race...that was the hardest part about my race...BRIDGES!

So, we got there, used the port a potty, and warmed up by running up a little hill...once we got up there we were in the line to start and waited till the horn blew!  Then...WE WERE OFF...and my PANTS STARTED FALLING DOWN!!!

So, I walked to tie them tighter...lol...

I turn on my headphones...J-LO and Pit Bull start with "Get on the Floor" (My zumba warm up song!)

As I was running, the first mile was pretty easy because everyone is super stoked and excited!  The second mile a little harder, the third was ok...but my time was still about what I was hoping for...then...ummm WHERE IS THAT 4TH MILE MARKER????  Am I EVER going to get there???  UGH!!! LONGEST MILE EVER!!!  Then, out of nowhere I see it...MILE MARKER....NUMBER 5???  YESSS!!!

It was a nice surprise seeing mile 5 when I though the next one was 4, though that mile seemed sooo excrutiating!!!  So then I grab some water...my FIRST one...and drink...and...CHOKE!!!  It was G2!!!  LOL!  I thought it was water...but HEY!  I NEED those electrolytes so I grab MORE!!!

At maybe 5.5 miles I get me some Black Eyed Peas on my playlist...YEAH!!! I GOT A FEEELING...

I hit a downhill slope right as Fergy hollers DRANK!  MAZELTOV!!!  I sang it out loud...the guy I was PASSING looked at me like I was CraZy...lol...I am...whatev!

So then I got to jam to Hillsong Take it All...and pumped my fist and yelled..."Take take TAKE IT ALL!!!"  and got stares again...AWESOME!

And the FINISH SWINE came into view...as "Doing it Well" began playing!

IT was the best song that could have played at that point...I was SOOO tired.  And, I thought of my minister, LD Campbell, when he used to say, "Finish well."  So...I was "Doing it well" and finished my race as well as I could...

When I crossed the finish line my friends were waiting and Brenda and Joe (SOME VERY AWESOME PEOPLE!) Brought me flowers!!! So BLESSED!

Then...Lucia, Karen, Angie, Heather, and I went and ate the BEST ORANGES EVER, chips, granola bars, peanut butter crackers...ohhh yeah...best food EVER!  LOL!  AND...I got a FLYING PIG FINISHING MEDAL!  And...the best part...one of those silver blanket things you wrap around you...seriously...until I got it, I was like, "oooh...I wonder how you get one of those..."  And then...I GOT ONE!  It made it feel so OFFICIAL!  Weird...

Lots of Biblical things I could parallel my experience to, but I am gonna sit on that for now...chew on it, and see what it is God wants me to learn most...then, I will share again!  Till then...Godspeed!

Oh...and I didn't take my camera (IF YOU CAN BELIEVE THAT)...check some pics out on facebook if you are my friend!