ARKANSAS!!! NUMBER 21, RUNNING WITH A HEAD COLD...

I like Saturday races so much better!!! Brian and I left early on 09/26/2014; we were on the road before 6 and headed on what was to be about a 10 hour drive. We had no trouble with the drive. We are in the 4th of the Outlander books and it really helps the journey to have a story to follow. I had a cold for the whole week prior so I couldn’t read for long, would have to rest my voice and then start up again. As we have in the past several races I packed a good cooler full of food and we stopped only for fuel and potty breaks. We were in Jonesboro, Arkansas by 4 and picked up my race packet and headed to the hotel just across the highway from the start. Our hotel looked pretty nice, but the front desk people were talking about their problems to us when we checked in, very off-putting (whatever). We got in our room and relaxed for about an hour until Mom, Dad, Susan and Toad arrived, then we went to Mom and Dad’s room and had some beers and chatted and relaxed some more. By this time in the evening I was really stuffed up in the head and nose and probably had a fever, but I didn’t tell Brian because he would have grounded me. I got up at 5 am, ate my banana, got ready to go, felt like crap. We went over the start and did my usual bathroom, bathroom, bathroom stop. I don’t know why but it is always three times!!! I warmed up as best I could but felt like crap. I did take Zicam in my nose right before the race in hopes of breathing through it, hahahaha!!! Anyway off to the start we go and the woman who coordinated it didn’t have a megaphone so we couldn’t hear her and then she sounded the air horn…ooops…false alarm!!! 2 minutes later it was the real thing and we were off. This was a hilly course on the frontage road of the highway for the first several miles and it was hot and there wasn’t much cover. I chose not to wear my hat because I had cut off my hair and thought it would be cooler. It was though I missed the visor shading my eyes at times. My legs felt fine, my feet were good, even though this was only the second long run in my new shoes, but my lungs just couldn’t get me enough air. I kept going but it just never got easier, never. I walked once for maybe 50 yards at about 10 miles, but kept on going and finally crossed the finish line in what felt like the slowest time in a million races. I actually was 88 of 205 runners, 35 of 119 women. My pace was 9:46, my time was 02:07:57 (friggin slow)!!! Absolutely the last time I try to run while I have a head cold! So Mom, Dad, Susan and Toad went to Starbucks and Brian and I sat and he let me rest for a few minutes. There was a band playing and they were good, but they kept losing power, they were good sports about it though. The lead singer kept saying, “We don’t have the power”! I loaded up a plate with the really great breakfast selections that they had and we headed off to Starbucks, just 2 minutes away and actually beat the rest there (they made a potty stop). I sat, rested, ate my breakfast slowly and whined about my slowness. I started checking my time, but it wasn’t posted on the website so we left and went back to the Start/Finish because I could see them there. From the posting it looked like I got 3rd, seriously? I was sitting in the grass playing with the cutest puppy in the world when they called my name for first! Apparently…I got first in the Grand Master Female division!!! Yes, that means I was the fastest old broad out there, hilarious!!! One more down, next is Alabama in a month!!!