What Was I Thinking?

Posted by Steph

Some say to begin with the end in mind. For me, the end was being able to say ‘I did it!’ It has been extremely satisfying for me to utter those three little words, and if I could jump out of an airplane I could certainly run a 5K! Right!?

So the day before the race I coerced my sister to sign up with me. We began our search to find the Clinton recreational building to register, but to no avail. (This should have been our first sign.) Parched from our journey, we stopped to get a Diet Coke and like a blessing from above there was a Police Officer grabbing his lunch at the local Maverick! He directed us back on our way and we paid our $15 registration fee and were told to meet the following day at 6am!

Apparently last year Clinton City had about 200 runners. This year over 300 people came out to support this local event. They were very unorganized, in fact they ran out to numbers for the participants and t-shirts too. (Here again, another sign.)

The race was to start promptly at 6:30am, but we didn’t hit the pavement until about 7:15. (Sign number 3!)

After the first 10 minutes I knew I was in over my head! But to make things worse I had a blind lady who was tethered to another lady pass me!!!! By this time I am thinking 'what did I get myself into??' and 'this IS NOT going to be pretty!'

My focus at that point turned into just putting one foot in front of the other until I came to the finish line, where I would immediately seek medical attention! And I thought this was supposed to be a fun run! (I like the names Stace up with better!)

While I ran, then walked, then ran, then walked, I was cheering my sister on! I could see her ahead of me running like a champion in my eyes! I could see her every now and again looking back making sure I was somewhere behind her still running or walking, and not dead off to the side of the road!

All in all I can say that I did it! And My Sister ROCKS! Here were our standings:

Stacy Skillman 38:48.5
Stephanie Tucker 41:46.9

It's hard to explain why, but I am going to do it again in September. Maybe it's my need to redeem myself from being passed by a blind lady, or just wanting to see if I can improve my time I don't know. But WE DID IT!