I survived Brew to Brew 2005

Well, I'm alive. I survived the not-trained-nearly-enough-for relay race Sunday. The hardest part was getting up at 4 freaking thirty in the am, as we were meeting out in Olathe at 5:30. Our race was supposed to start at 6:30am. We pulled into the lot at about 6:30am. Needless to say, Christine did not start with the rest of the crowd. Nope. Instead of waiting 15 more minutes for the 7am start, everyone (sans Christine) decided I could just "catch up". Well, that may have been an option had we been running a regular course on roads with markers, but this one was a seriously challenging race. I did have a map, but apparently they gave me the WRONG map so I was basically screwed. I took off uphill, and saw some cones marking the way at about 6:45 (no time for stretching, so I just jumped in place a few times and headed off--not a good idea). I got to the top of this hill and could actually see a few runners in the distance, but there was an intersection and the bridge split into these two big circular things. I couldn't tell which way to take to get where I was supposed to be. There was NO ONE around, so I made a guess, started off and then some guy in a truck pulled up next to me and told me to take the other way, so I ran back uphill and started over, getting to the bottom, realizing he was FULL OF SHIT (or maybe just misinformed) but STILL, back uphill I went and down the other side. I did see a volunteer there, who told me to take the stairs down 2 flights and go under the bridge and "hop over the concrete wall" (yes, HOP) and run along the levee. I did not actually know what a levee is, I thought it was a bar. (the Levee in KC). I found the wall, climbed over with no hopping as the damn thing was at least 4 1/2 feet tall, and figured the levee was this big hill next to the river with gravel tire tracks going along it. I ran with NO ONE in sight for a very long time. It was through NOT one of the better parts of the city and I ran next to forests and abandoned railroad cars and junkyards, under railroad bridges, and the like with no sign of civilization. Then I get to this gate across the track with barbed wire along the top, and a "no trespassing" sign. I think, huh, WTF? I call my teammates who finally find a runner who just ended and he told me I just have to crawl down the steep hill of rocks and back up again around the sign and keep going. OK. I crawl & climb and almost have some fun, except it's VERY creepy out there all by my lonesome. I see a shadow moving down among the trees by the river. Turns out I was NOT out there all by myself, nope. I had a little friend. He looked like something out of a horror movie and I pretty much decided I was like that lone fat, lame antelope being culled from the herd by the vicious hyennas. I also had been watching the discovery channel the day before with all these specials about how death row killers had escaped and went on rampages while out of prison. Not good. He starts walking in my direction, I basically put on some speed that I didn't think I had, kept trucking along while watching over my shoulder. I don't even like being by myself outdoors in southern Johnson County. I was NOT enjoying my commune with nature and homeless river men.

After I thought I had run at least 10 miles (I guess it was about 3) I started getting lapped by the 7am start fast people. I have to say, runners are nice people. Crazy mother-humpers, but nice people. I must have looked like death warmed over as the comments as these people passed me went from "morning" or "hi" to "hang in there", "you're doing great" and "you're almost done". I made it, actually doing my 4.23 miles in just under an hour, even with the 1/2 mile addition of the wrong turn, so not too terrible. Of course, everyone else on my team ran 9-12 min miles, but I didn't care! I did it! Rich took pictures of everyone at their finish signs, so I will probably have a pic to post later with the before & after looks.

Part-way through the day, I went home, showered, and picked up the kids. We met our group at this VERY COOL party at Liberty Hall catered by the Free State Brewery and ate & drank & all that. Joey was walking along thanking people for running for him. It was confusing quite a few of them, I'm sure. We went on stage to get food and after Joey thanked the guy with the microphone, I explained that Joey has Cystic Fibrosis (the run benefitted the CF Foundation for research) and he asked if Joey'd like to say hello to the crowd. After an introduction, Joey got on there and hammed it up a bit and said a big "THANK YOU" and the crowd was all cheering. I have to admit I had some tears coming down my face. It was touching. All the way back to our seats people were high fiving my kid and a group of guys very near the kegs were chanting "Joey, Joey, Joey". I'm afraid my child was liking the attention.

All in all, it was a VERY cool race, and I think if I started with a crowd or had a map of the right leg of the race, it would have been much less scary. I can't wait to do it again.

Knitting/Crocheting news: I finished three sets of flowers for the flower scarf and need to sit my butt down and sew them together. Finishing is NOT my favorite part of creations.