It was June 26th. I woke up early in the morning, and prepared to leave with alacrity. It was the day of the Sturgis Falls 1/2 Marathon and 5K! The whole family came along. Bethany was running the 5k, and yes, my mother and I were going to attempt our first 13.1.
We arrived about an hour early, picked up our packets, and worked on our regular pre-race warm up. At 7 A.M. sharp, we were off. The first mile went great. I started off going pretty fast. I was happily towards the front of the pack. I skipped the first water station, but by the next one I was very thirsty. I grabbed a cup and ran on. I started to splash it on me, but wait! It was...blue! I soon figured out that these water stations also served Gatorade. I had apparently grabbed the wrong cup. I gulped it down anyway, and continued running.
Pretty soon, by about mile four, I started getting tired. That would be okay, except I still had nine miles left to go! Runner after runner started passing me. Old people passed me. Then my mother passed me! I grew thirstier... and thirstier and.... slower... and slower. Where oh where could the next water station be? It was in the 70's temperature wise, and very humid. I was so thirsty. Finally the water came. I stopped running. I grabbed a cup, made sure it was real water, drank it, grabbed another, drank it, grabbed another, drank it, and another, and drank it. Then I was ready to go.
I was feeling a lot better now, and at last I was able to start passing back the folks who had passed me. That was very enjoyable! I passed my mother, and several others. It felt incredibly hot out! A lot of runners had to stop and walk. Some runners were moaning in pain. The sun beat down on us with its penetrating rays. Vultures were flying above. We joked that they were just waiting to see who would be the first of us to collapse.
We arrived about an hour early, picked up our packets, and worked on our regular pre-race warm up. At 7 A.M. sharp, we were off. The first mile went great. I started off going pretty fast. I was happily towards the front of the pack. I skipped the first water station, but by the next one I was very thirsty. I grabbed a cup and ran on. I started to splash it on me, but wait! It was...blue! I soon figured out that these water stations also served Gatorade. I had apparently grabbed the wrong cup. I gulped it down anyway, and continued running.
Pretty soon, by about mile four, I started getting tired. That would be okay, except I still had nine miles left to go! Runner after runner started passing me. Old people passed me. Then my mother passed me! I grew thirstier... and thirstier and.... slower... and slower. Where oh where could the next water station be? It was in the 70's temperature wise, and very humid. I was so thirsty. Finally the water came. I stopped running. I grabbed a cup, made sure it was real water, drank it, grabbed another, drank it, grabbed another, drank it, and another, and drank it. Then I was ready to go.
I was feeling a lot better now, and at last I was able to start passing back the folks who had passed me. That was very enjoyable! I passed my mother, and several others. It felt incredibly hot out! A lot of runners had to stop and walk. Some runners were moaning in pain. The sun beat down on us with its penetrating rays. Vultures were flying above. We joked that they were just waiting to see who would be the first of us to collapse.
I ran on, and finally made it to mile 12! With only a little ways to go, I was feeling pretty good. That is, until I had about 1/2 a mile left... Then I was ready for the race to be done. I was feeling quite extremely tired, and I was so very happy when I saw the finish line!! And I finished. I was in 122nd place. There were 274 finishers total. My time was 2:07:12. My mother came in just a couple minutes later! After making sure that we were really going to survive, we headed to the awards ceremony. My mother received a 4th place medal for her age division, and I just barely got a medal with a 5th place for 14 -19 year old girls. Bethany did very well in the 5K, and we went home exhausted, but happy! We enjoyed it, were thankful for the opportunity to do it, and we're looking forward to our next race!