Governor's Cup

Yesterday morning the alarm came much too early. 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday is just not cool. However, I woke up with butterflies dancing in my stomach in anticipation for the morning's upcoming event. Slowly I rolled myself out of bed, put on my shoes and said a quick prayer before leaving the house. I was going to need all the help I could get!

I met up with my fellow runners at the State House and we stood around waiting for the race to start. We lined up at the start line and I was completely oblivious when the race actually started. I had my back to the start line and was in the middle of a sentence when Z said, "Hey, we're running now!"

Mile 1 came up quick in my mind. Although our time was quite slow, I felt good and strong. I thought they'd forgotten to put out a sign marking Mile 2 because it felt like we would never get there. I ran with Z the entire time* and settled into my usual routine of synching my steps up with his. Mile 2 finally came and we continued on with relative ease. I am quite impressed that we didn't fade at that point, considering the longest we'd run in a long time was 2 miles. At Mile 3, I told Z "hey, we're over half way done!" That was good news to the both of us even though I knew the hardest part of the race was coming up. So, we entered the final mile at the corner of Blossom and Saluda. Up Blossom Street and then a right on Sumter Street was the plan. Initially, Blossom Street isn't too bad as it's somewhat flat. Then right around Pickens Street, the road starts to incline. And continues to incline. Then, you think you're done with the hill but NO! You have to turn on Sumter Street, which is also a nice hill. At this point, my chest was about to explode. We caught up with Dogwood and ran toward the finish line. Dogwood encouraged Z to run ahead and sprint to the finish, which he did. When I crossed the finish line, I had that momentary feeling of "Oh dear, I think I might puke!" Luckily that feeling left rather quickly and I neither collapsed nor puked. Our official times haven't been posted yet, but I believe we finished right around 46 minutes and a few seconds. Not too shabby for our first 8K.

My legs are a tad sore today, but I had so much fun yesterday and really enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment when it was all over. Minnie Mouse wants to run in the Cooper River race in April, but I'm a little unsure of that at this point. But who knows...stranger things have happened.