Sunburst ½ Marathon 2006>> I really didn't know what to expect from this race. I can't say that> I was exactly nervous about it, but I was a bit on edge. Since I> really don't have that much racing behind me my first goal was to> have fun. My second goal was to beat my ½ time from the Chicago> Marathon, which was 2:45 and something.>> Friday, my knee was driving me crazy & I spent the day RICE-ing it.> I have never had any knee ailments that I can recall & it was> extremely annoying and disconcerting. I waited around after work for> my friend Cheri & we drove over to pick up our packets. We also ate> the spaghetti dinner at the College Football Hall of Fame. We walked> around a little & also struck up a conversation with a man who was> running his first race. He was talking about how addictive it was,> etc.. and his wife was standing there rolling her eyes. You could> tell that she was tolerating it because he was so excited about it.> We left rather excited. On my way home one of my sisters called my> cell phone & said our mom wasn't doing well. My mom had a stress> test & was home, so my sister and I made plans to meet over there> after I got back into town. Long story short, I didn't leave my> parents house until about 11 p.m. She seemed a lot better & we were> satisfied that dad could handle her. I did sleep with both the home> phone and my cell on my nightstand just in case. My parents only> live about 3 miles from me, so I could have gotten there quickly if I> had to do so.>> Unfortunately, I never made it home between work and bedtime…so I> still had to get ready for the race. By the time I got into bed it> was well after midnight. I set an alarm as an afterthought. I> always wake up by 5 o'clock..so I set the alarm for 5:10 & a back up> alarm for 5:20. I actually slept until 5:10. I was surprised.>> I got up. My knee seemed fine, like nothing was ever the matter with> it. I ate ½ of a banana…barely & tried to drink a cup of coffee.> This did not look promising. My stomach was very queasy I grabbed a> water and hit the door. I picked up Cheri & we headed to South> Bend. My daughter, Clarissa was meeting us there as she had already> started a job out of town for the summer. I might add that she was> not extremely happy when she found out the race time was changed to> 6:45 & she had about an hour and ten minute drive to get there.>> Just after we parked we decided maybe to try to use the porta-> potties. As soon as we got near them I lost any urge I had to go to> the bathroom.>> When we arrived at the starting point we saw someone we knew from> town & they told us all the races had been delayed by 15 minutes, but> they didn't know why. Then I saw the Marky and Kathy. (Mrs. Mikel> is an extremely pretty and nice woman. Marky is very lucky.) Note> to Ricky: No butt squeeze. I am scared of Marky you know. :P>> Cheri walked with Clarissa and I over to the starting line. We> screamed a couple of dozen more times while Clarissa rolled her eyes.> Then Cheri left (she was running the 10k).>> You couldn't ask for a more perfect day. It was cool and breezy to> start with & most of our race was in the shade.>> We lined up near the back of the pack & started out very slow. We> let EVERYONE who would pass us. I think there were about 15 people> behind us. I told Clarissa that after the first 2 miles we should> kick it up a bit. She replied, "I am not kicking anything anywhere> mom. This is my pace." Okey dokey. We talked about stuff that had> happened to her since she left home on Thursday morning. She already> had a couple of entertaining camp stories (she's working at Girl> Scout Camp

I will finish this tomorrow!!