We Came...We Walked...We Kicked Some...Well...We Finished!

I can't believe that it is the beginning of May and the big Go Far 5K walk/run that I was training for has come and gone and I haven't had time to blog about it.  Life has been a bit of a blur, but that happens sometimes especially this time of year.

Race morning came pretty darn early, but I managed to have breakfast for some sustainability for the old body.  My husband and I arrived down in the holding area with about 150 other folks.  I was excited to see that they were at all levels of fitness and ability.

The GoFar folks lead us through some warm up activities which at some points were harder than the actual walk.  Balancing on one bent leg with the other leg crossed over in the air, and hands in a prayer fold - WHAT?!  Are you kidding me?  I impressed myself that I could actually do it and not only did I not fall over, the leader pointed to me and said 'nice job'!  Do you hear that?  "NICE JOB!!!"  For all I know she sensed my inadequateness for the whole fitness thing and was just trying to boost my ego, I don't know, and I don't care.

We posed for a few pictures as the NAA board and then the rest began.  My friend Sheila and I quickly settled into a nice rhythm.  Several folks had warned me that training on a treadmill is very different than training on pavement - well, they would be right - as most fitness people are.  However, once we got into a good stride we were doing okay. 

The route was essentially three times around the Gaylord Palms with a water station posted at the half way lap mark.  We were off and moving.  Of course, we were passed by many a runner, bah - we we're okay with that as long as there were still people behind us.

When we had the water station in site, we said, 'let's jog to make it look good' - so we did.  Grabbed our water and tried to nonchalantly toss it like all of the other runners did.  Not the most graceful thing I've ever done in my life, but I had another two laps to perfect that.

Once well past the water station and around the corner, back to walking.  We were moving and doing okay.  Next up was the finish line (remember three laps, so you actually pass the turn off for the finish line twice before actually crossing it.  Again, 'let's jog to look good' - so we did and past the finish line we went.

Somewhere during the third lap, my husband joined us.  He had already crossed the finish line, received his medal and grabbed a banana.  He is the best husband in the world - or at least in my world, which is really all that matters.  He walked the final lap with us giving words of encouragement and pointing out how many people were still behind us!

However, when we turned around we were surprised that many of the people who had been behind us were not behind us anymore and we had not seen them pass us....hmm....curious.  My husband pointed out that there were a few folks who created their own race path by cutting across the parking lot.  Just like a bunch of kids!

We passed the water station.  Tossed the cups now with ease.  Sheila tossed one over her head for good measure.  I was afraid for a photo op at the end with board members and I couldn't have wet hair now could I?  We approached the finish line and crossed it successfully beaming with pride! They put the medals over our heads and quite honestly, I felt like an Olympian. 

I had two goals that day.  One to finish and two to not come in dead last.  Once the race results were posted we found out that we didn't come in dead last. Sheila actually came in about 20 seconds before me which seemed stranged as we crossed at the same time.  I have accused her of pushing me and I just didn't realize it at the time. She claims that she didn't.  And considering we were pretty close to being last there were no cameras nor any board members left to actually photograph the line crossing.  We also found out that there were about 16 other people that came in AFTER us - so goal two accomplished.

The silliest part about the whole race is that my husband dropped our room card at some point and we couldn't get back into our room.  Nor could we prove to the front desk that we were who we said we were because we didn't have any identification on us - duh!  Luckily a very nice security guard met us at our room, let us in, and waited patiently until we could produce some identification. 

One race down....what's next?

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