Austin Komen for the Cure 5K

This past weekend, P and I ventured down to Austin, Texas. A combined adventure of his gig at the Punk Rock Food Drive and my 5k, Komen for the Cure. This trip was also a treat because we were also kid-free ( a rarity for us)!

Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night was a combination of going out, seeing Austin, seeing friends, going out some more and P's show. Needless to say, there was very little sleep and lots of tacos. Surprisingly, even with meeting a virtual friend from my Running Moms group, I only drank two, yes, that's dos, beers the entire weekend. Yet, I wander off subject.

Sunday morning came way too early. The night before I got in about 12:30 a.m. and finally to sleep around 1 a.m. Getting to sleep that late is usually the second time I've fallen asleep in a night, not the first. The 6 a.m. alarm stopped my heart, I believe. I seriously cannot remember the last time I jumped out of bed that fast. I had 45 minutes to wake up, get dressed, and drive to the race, park and find the start line. That I even did pretty quickly (thank you, pre-organization)!

Thankfully, I a. know how to navigate maps and areas I don't know very well and b.) knew a little bit of the layout of Austin. It's pretty similar to Denton, in my opinion. Drive time andparking took no time at all. Thanks to my Running Mom friend, Bethany, I had my packet early so after parking all I had to do was go straight to the start line.

And then the nerves hit. This was the first race I've ever done completely alone. No one to run with, no one to see me at the finish line. I suddenly felt silly in my tutu, even though my friend Nycole at Lil' Darlin' Designs did a kick ass job making me a custom tutu. I choked up. I almost walked back to the car. I suppose fortunately for me, the starting announcements were going on and I was stuck in the middle of the crowd of timed runners. The gun goes off! Crap...I start running at a diagonal to get to the side to let all the speedsters get by. I don't remember much other than hills, the 11:30 mm time at the Mile 1 marker, turning on 6th Street, and then rounding the Capitol building towards the end.

I do remember walking a couple of more times than I wanted and reminding myself that I am pretty friggin' tired. I do remember turning the corner to the finish line and crossing my fingers that my posse showed up. (Nope.) I remember finishing and thinking, "Oh my goodness, I have to pee, " and "I need coffee". That's me post coffee and post pee.

My first race in 6.5 months ended up being fairly "normal" and overwhelming at the same time. Oh, and this lady PR'd on her 5K time at a 39:05...not bad for 5 hours of sleep and late night fuel of 1/2 of a trailer taco. The cool thing about the Komen is the cause. I dedicated this race to my friend Marissa's mom, Nancy, who completed her treatment in October.

No matter how much I wanted to quit running and how much I wanted to cry at the last 0.14 miles, I know whatever I was going through was nothing compared to what Nancy and millions of other women have gone through or are going through. They are the true heroes of the Komen.