Rancho Santa Margarita

Hi all!

Well I did it

Here are the details. Woke up to a messed up stomach and unsure whether it was nervousness or the fajitas I had last night Anyway I will spare you the details but I was in the restroom alot!! On one of my lovely restroom stops at a gas station I made a wrong turn and went about 5 miles out of the way and had to find my way back lol.

I finally met up with the girls I was running with and we made our way to the start. There was just a little red line to identify the start.

Mile 1 was an uphill grade for about the whole mile, what a way to warm up! My legs felt terrible but my stomach was ok thank God. I did not hear the guy call the time on the first mile.

Mile 2 - We turned a corner and there was a blessed downhill grade and shade!!! I put on Eminem and rocked out. This was the mile that felt the best. The guy called out 30.25 at 2 miles. I was a bit disappointed cause I really wanted to to get under 45 min.

Mile 3 I was just plugging along, trying to keep positive, getting tired but hanging in there.
At the finish I entered the wrong chute and had to jump over 2 ropes to get in the right place. Then I was behind a guy with a stroller and 3 girls that kept dropping their water bottles! I am not sure what time they got but I had 48 min for 3.29 miles according to my garmin.

Not the under 45 I wanted but this race was a success for 2 reasons:

1) I was not freaked out about racing this morning at all. Normally I have bad dreams and can barely breathe for the nervousness of it all.

2) I did not let one negative thought enter my head. I stayed focused and for the first time I ran the whole thing w/o stopping.

So I consider it a definite success. I feel like my mind is finally in the place to let my body improve and that is a very good thing.

As I was running into the finish some of the girls were screaming my name, cheering me in. That was awesome!