Pat's Run 2008

Well, we did it! Today we ran in what will probably be our first of many races for the Pat Tillman Foundation. Certainly we have learned some things which will no doubt come in handy in the future. However, let me give you a brief run down of the events leading up to the run, the run itself, and the after thoughts.

First, the night before my DH and running partner for this race, asked me numerous times if I really wanted to do this. Of course I said yes. I had not been running for the last 3 weeks for my health...hello! I was in training!!! My loving husband (who had not been running and sprained his ankle 3 weeks ago) really just wanted to sleep in. Um no...I have running for weeks and we shipped our little peanut over to Grandma's to spend the night for this race (which by the way all we did was talk that night about how we should probably just go get her...such rookie parents I know!). 

At any rate, the alarm goes off a couple times but we finally make it out the door at 6:30. My DH feels we are running "late" so proceeds to fly down the freeways, swear at other cars and police officers who are directing traffic, and work himself into a bit of a tizzy. I am thinking, drop me off, I'll do this by myself. Well he settles down once we find parking and get settled. His ankle is kind of hurting so I think to myself "Oh my gosh, with his injury and lack of training, I could for once maybe beat him!" My DH is extremely athletic and determined and never have I beaten him in anything. Although if I challenged him in a cooking contest I would totally kill him!! Anyways, so I am thinking, yep this is the day I will beat him. Of course we start the run and walk about a tenth of a mile before I break into my run. He is right next to me. Mile 1, he is still there. Mile 2, yep there he is. Mile 3, telling me we can totally run up the hill, no need to walk it (the voice inside my head said "Oh Hell!! A hill, where is the smooth course!!"). Mile 4, he is running backwards talking to me (I turn my IPOD up louder). The end of the race and we are in it together, him in front and me in the back. We enter the field and all I care about is that 42 yard line (the finish line). I cross and look at my time and that is when it happened...Kevin was not with me! I see him just barely approaching the finish line. OH MY GOSH...I JUST BEAT KEVIN!!! Not because I was anywhere near faster as I was exhausted and he was energized...nope I was focused on the finish line and he saw the ASU Football Team! He decided to stop and have a chat with the team and I decided to finish the race. Yes, I finished in 48min 12sec and Kevin finished 48min 20sec. 

That being said there was one extremely touching moment for both of us. As we turned toward the stadium we saw a veteran who had started in the group a half and hour before us. He was in his 50's and had prosthetic arms and legs but he was out there doing one heck of a job. We both decided that we wanted to finish the race along side him, no matter how slow we had to go. If you know any service men/women, give them a big thank you! There were so many at the race and they were all inspiring. 

So to finish the post, things we learned from the race and will do next time

1. Don't think old injury and lack of training will help you beat your super athletic and competitive husband. Enlist the power of his favorite college football team!

2. Don't try a new variety of energy bar the day of the race. It may not be too helpful during the race!  Yucky!

3. Bring Patton next race. Put a vest with compartments on him and use him as a Pack Mule for water and such. Seriously saw one dog with this and thought it was genius!

4. Buy new shoes a month before the race.

5. Relocate the race to Texas or someplace with a flat course. Actually the hills were not too bad but for some reason I just wasn't expecting them.

So get ready for next year...we are thinking we should have a Team Rhino next time! We just need 3 other people to make our team.