The weather was beautiful, I got enough sleep, and I got out of bed on time (which in itself is a miracle). I wasn’t even late to meet my friends in the mall parking lot so that we could walk to the starting line of the 31st Annual Clyde’s All American 10K. Unfortunately, I drank about 45 gallons of water between 6:30AM and 7:30AM, so as soon as we parked, I had to pee. The line to the bathroom was 6.2 miles long. I anticipated missing the race on account of waiting in the porta pot line. That would be tragic.
This must be my “I gotta pee” face.
I excused myself to stand in the never-ending line. I waited…and waited…
In the meantime, my camera was in the possession of others. It looks like all of the fun occurred while I waited to pee!
They kissed.
They did the robot.
They re-chipified.
They held the innocent child up and shook her, as she looked on…confused.
They took pictures of Jen’s 5 months pregnant belly!
Yes. My running buddy is 5 MONTHS pregnant. Isn’t she awesome?
Ok. That’s impressive. But did you also know that this little munchkin is hers too?
Yes, yes. Eleven-month-old baby. Five months pregnant. Running 6 miles. My hero.
Phew! Thank goodness I made it back just in time to get to the starting line. And I missed all of the fun. And, by the way, is there a sports bra that comes with underwire? Or maybe just one that doesn’t squish the girls into looking like a hot mess? Because for real…this whole “flapjack breast” thing is just not working for me.
Sorry. I know that you didn’t really want to study my squished breasts in that picture.
Here we are…on the way to the starting line!
So, these are all of the fast people. We let them start like 12 hours before us. To avoid the embarrassment of having 1,200 people pass us. These people finished around the time that we were starting.
And then, while Jen and I were sweating, and snotting, and hacking up lungs (well…I was, she wasn’t), the boys (and Nina B) waited for us.
And lollygagged.
They people-watched.
They played.
Slackers.
And then finally. Finally. FINALLY, around 1:10–they spotted us.
So this is the first time I’ve ever seen a picture of myself while running, and do you see how crunched up my shoulders are? That is me, struggling to encourage air into my asthmatic bronchi. Note to self: go see the doctor about this.
Closer…
I mean seriously. The girl on the left is 5 months pregnant, and hadn’t run in a month. She looks like she’s taking a walk in the park. I’m sure this was the point where I was asking her “I can’t walk now, can I?”
Now this is a red face.
And, the relief of being all done! This is the worst race picture ever, but there’s no shame in my game. Just keepin’ it real. I can’t always be fresh-faced and beautiful, ya know.
Despite the agony of the 1442 feet of elevation gain, the extremely red face, and the flapjack boobies, I had a great time. Yet again, today made me remember why I run.
Because it’s just fun.
