Friday night my son decided he didn't want to go to sleep until around 11:00 p.m. then turn around and wake up at 3:00 am Saturday morning- for the day. Not just a wake up, take a sip of drink and then go back to sleep. Nope- he was up FOR THE DAY! My husband and I tried everything to get him back to sleep and nothing worked. Our alarm was set for 6:00 a.m. and at 5:30 I told my husband- if you get him back to sleep I'll turn the alarm off and we'll skip the race. I was serious too! I was so incredibly nervous the day/night before that I was coming up with every possible reason not to go through with it. Then, with my son being up so early I thought that would be a good excuse too.
But he didn't go back to sleep. We got up (and started functioning) at 6, got ready and headed out the door at 7. The race started at 9 and it was about an hour away so our goal was to get there around 8- which we did.
Of course my son fell asleep on the way so my husband was sitting in the van with him while I was getting ready. He snapped this picture of me trying to position my number.
And here we go... all ready!
Our team made tutu's in Coast Guard colors because we were all either a CG wife or a member. Yes- I know they are also the colors of the Florida Gators and although my husband is a die hard fan- I am not. Let me tell you here in case I forget to tell you later- I will never run in a tutu again. I had been warned that the tulle would bother you when you were running (getting in between your legs) but I didn't have that problem. My issue was my arms rubbing against it when I was walking/running. There were several times during the run that I considered ripping the thing off and throwing it in the grass. But there were cops everywhere blocking the streets and I was afraid I'd get yelled at. So I suffered through.
This was the starting line. The announcer said they had over 3000 runners! That's a lot of people!
Here's a picture of the 1st wave making their way around while we were still waiting to be let go.
And when it's all over... you usually look a lot messier than me. I joked with a few people and said that I was just running so fast that the color didn't stick to me. But I really don't know how I ended up being so clean. My face was really dirty (although you can't tell from the picture) but my clothes were almost spotless compared to others.
I was still trying to catch my breath and I was in desperate need of water. They were handing out bottles of water at the starting line but they said there would be water along the race so I figured I would just wait and get water later. Well, I was wrong (technically they were wrong). They didn't offer water until after about 2 miles in and it was a little cup that had maybe 3 sips in it (although I was grateful for those 3 sips). But the powder/cornstarch that you run through to get colored really hit me harder than I thought it would. It was hard to breathe through. I heard parents telling their kids to hold their breath when running (being pushed in a stroller) through it. But I was already running (and out of breath) so there was no way I could hold my breath while running through the clouds of color. (although I tried) So then I was even more out of breath after getting colored. Then I would walk to recover and try and catch my breath.
While reuniting with my family and catching my breath (and drinking water), they call everyone into the middle of the area (I didn't go) and everyone throws their color packets that were included in their race packets. It looked like this:
Then while we were taking pictures, my son unbeknownst to me- followed me around that gate that you see. My husband thought I had him, I thought he had him. Pictures were done and my son was gone. He's 2. A worker walked up to me asking if I was looking for water and I told her I was looking for my son and that I needed her to have the DJ make an announcement. She didn't know what to do but asked what he was wearing. I told her then made my way to the stage and asked everyone I could along the way. I ran up to the stage and started pounding on it to get the DJ's attention. He didn't hear me. There was a lady on stage who acknowledged me and I told her- she also tried getting his attention and he didn't hear her either. So I jumped on stage and got in face. I told him I needed him to make an announcement because my son was 2 and he was missing. The DJ looked at me and said, "Really?". I yelled back, "No fakely!" so as I was giving him my son's description a runner walked up carrying my son. She said she found him walking around and he looked lost. I grabbed him from her and just started bawling. The term "Your legs go weak" yup- I know what that's like. If there had not been a railing there, I probably would have collapsed. I was so overcome with emotion that it was nothing like I have never experienced and pray I never do again. The whole ordeal probably lasted maybe 2 minutes- but it felt like it went on for hours.
After that- we were ready to go. There was a lot of music and color being thrown around but we were so shaken from what had happened and plus there was so many people (remember the 3000 runners- now add in their family and friends) so we headed back towards home. There was a Mardi Gras festival here in our town that we walked through for a few minutes (small town=small festivals). Then came home and took a nap (finally!). Well, actually my son wouldn't lay down again so we put him back in the truck and took the kids for ice cream. My son fell asleep on the way home from that and THEN we got a nap which was much needed for obvious reasons but also because my husband had planned a date night for us. This is more special than you may realize. We've been together for almost 8 years and he's never planned anything like that for us. He set up the babysitter and everything! (and wouldn't tell me where we were going).
This is where he took me:
It was lots of fun! We definitely need to have date nights more often than every 8 years.
I'm told I clean up pretty good.
So if you've made it this far... 1. Thank you for reading this insanely long blog post but as you can see, we packed a lot into one day. and 2. I hope my first 5k inspires you to sign up for your first 5k. I definitely plan to do more and the best thing about it- is my 2 girls (age 11 and 6) now want to sign up for one!
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