Two little words I never thought I would hear: first woman :)
The Sapper Joe was the most fun race ever!!! Mostly because the start line was wedged between two tanks and some men in uniform shot off a cannon at the start, which really got me moving! The first few miles were totally in the dark and I kept falling off the road although the cleverly placed glow sticks kept us on track. I sort of wish I the sun hadn't come up because it was illuminating what looked like a near vertical wall straight ahead of me. PLEASE don't let that be the way, which of course meant that it was the way. This was the absolutely most ridiculous uphill ever!!! The only thing I can think to compare it to is the climb up Black Mountain, but SERIOUSLY 250 feet in a quarter mile?!? It was so steep that I almost had to use my hands to keep from tipping over backwards and that hill just kept going and going for a mile or more.
Finally after four miles and well over 2000 feet of gain, I got to some downhill which at first felt terrible since my quads were burning so badly I thought there was no way I could kick it in to high gear to make it back down to all those soldiers. With the aid station in sight, I finally got my legs moving and it was at that point that I found out that there weren't any gals in front of me. So I grabbed some pretzels and some water and hauled @ss down to the finish. I ran miles 7, 8, and 9 just under a 7 minute pace which is a gosh darned miracle for me! We are talking SERIOUS miracle!
So much fun! Best part was my super awesome prize, a water bottle with a TANK on it! Not to mention, race medals were dog tags with... you guessed it a TANK on it. Screw birds, put a TANK on it is my new favorite saying!
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