Tupelo Race Report!

Here's how it goes: I train all summer.  It's hot and I get up too damn early and it sucks.  I wake slowly, decide to quit running, and then finally get up and go.  I feel fine afterward and happy that I keep doing it.  I run my short runs and my medium runs and my 20 mile runs and feel ready.  Then I taper.  I do the 12 mile run and it feels long and solid.  Then I do the eight mile run the next week and it feels fine.  Then I do a couple of short runs the week before, and it culminates in the night before with me thinking, "WHAT???"  Because it feels like forever since I've run far and the idea of running 26.2 miles at 5 in the morning sounds preposterous.

But that's how it goes.  Kristin rode down with me.  We had pasta at Olive Garden the night before, grabbed some last minute stuff at WalMart, and I was in bed by 9.

It's dark at 5 am, and no body really gives any cues that the race is about to start.  We all started drifting toward the start, clustered around for a bit, and then, just like last year, everyone started moving.  I ran for a while with David from Mississippi, maybe, or Tennessee?  Having someone to talk to made the first 5-6 miles go by quickly.  Then I ran with a guy named Steve from Louisiana.  His cajun accent kept me company for a few more miles.  After that I was mostly on my own.  There was a maniac just in front of me for quite a few miles, but he slowed to a walk at one point and I went on.

Thank God for cloud cover.  It was cloudy and breezy for the whole race--the sun only peeked through a few times, more than enough to show me how horrible the race could have been without the clouds. 

I felt strong throughout.  On a few downhills my knee felt twingey, but it never became anything more.  I never had to walk except through aid stations (always well staffed in Tupelo by cheerful, helpful people.)  I know I could have run it faster if I had someone to push me some.  I don't know if I'll be able to put up a faster time later this year or if I should just wait to try for a PR again in Little Rock.

I prayed.  In the over-20 miles part of the race, I thanked God that I could be out there and asked for strength for everyone I could think of, and for everyone feeling weak and needing a boost.  I prayed for strength for myself to finish the race and for others to somehow be able to feel that strength.  I was thankful that the two snakes I saw were already dead...

After the race I grabbed a beer, took off my belts, and sat on the concrete to drink it and watch some people finish.  Then I went and got Kristin and we came back for a while, watching some more finishers and talking to some runners that I know or had met.  We were finally on our way home before noon.

We stopped before we got to Memphis and had lunch at Applebees.  The food was great and our server Randi was fun (the guy who sat us said she was fun when she wasn't moody and was cute but unfortunately for him, already had a boyfriend.)  We had beers and more pasta and dessert shooters and it was great to spend another meal enjoying a good friend.

Then last night J and I went to a great party with some more great friends, met a few new people, and had a wonderful time. 

I ask myself a lot, when I'm in th middle of training for a race, "Why do I do this again?"  But with that great post-race finish in my heart yesterday, as I was getting in the car to go get Kristin, I felt reminded, "This.  This is why."  And I'm so blessed to have been able to do it again and to have felt good through the whole race, to feel like, oh yeah, this is something I can do, something I do.