Still in white…

So the Mud Run, back in April, kicked my ass. It’s all good. It HURT me (remember the tunnel?)!

I signed up for the Color Vibe race in Raleigh about a week or so after running at Buscoe in the mud. I felt like I needed to redeem myself.

Which, today, I think I did.

I felt that familiar *twinge* in my back just over a week ago while lifting (yes, I got several PRs – Deadlift @ 140, thank you vey much, and some ungodly heavy squats – 115, I believe), so I backed off on the lower body lifts so I wouldn’t have to run the race injured, again, cuz that just sucks.

We got into the bags before the run. 😉

I kinda gave up on my Couch to 5K training because a) my cul de sac SUCKS for running…it’s like watching the same boring infomercial over and over and over again; and b) I was pretty stressed out over “that woman” walking into my home not one, but two days running, and the associated youngest son-drama that played out in the following days.

So while I was trying to talk myself into loving the run, some of my MFP friends were telling me not to put so damned much pressure on myself, and if I hated running, then I hated it. No biggie…save that energy for something I enjoy doing (i.e. heavy lifting).

But the draw of the colors? I could NOT resist its siren song, so I took off of work early yesterday and drove to Raleigh and found the place where we were running and snagged the packets for my team, “Peace, Love, and Colors.”

Got home, ate hearty, and went to bed at a somewhat decent hour.

In the back of my mind, while I knew it would be fun, I was dreading the run. I hate(d) running. Really. But I felt like I needed to come back from the mud run, because it sucked for me. I mean, I remember saying the only thing that hurt worse was childbirth and even that allowed me drugs and a bonus at the end, LOL.

Gettin’ Ready To Run…

I charged the batteries for one of my DSLR’s and asked my middle son, Mattie, to photograph the event for us. He obliged, happily.

The traffic on the latter part of the drive to MacNair Farm was crazy, and the first wave of runners was scheduled to go at 9:30 and we rolled into the parking lot about 9:10. The first thing we all did was hit the porta-johns – cuz, you know, all that a.m. coffee and the Gatorade on the hour drive in? Well, yeah.

So we decided to break into the color packs before we ran and basically looked like rainbows and Skittles exploded all over us before we even ran, LOL…

Taking off….

We ended up running out of the gate the very last of the last wave. It had been raining, the temps were a nice low-to-mid-70’s, and it was mostly cloudy. We took off slowly, given the crowd. There were five of us; Jennifer; her twin, Jeriann; her mom, Julie; girlfriend Jazel, and me, the other Julie.

I’ll be honest…I was expecting to be ready to die within the first five minutes of jogging…AND I WASN”T!  What the hell???? This time, I wasn’t running injured, and I was keeping up with the younger girls, and the damned thing was fun, Gawd forbid! 🙂

Gatorade is GOOD, man!

We did really well for the first third or so of the race…and then it got kind of congested. So we walked a bit, but given the humidity, and the crowds, we ran a lot more than I thought we would (and a hell of a lot more than I did during the last 5K), so we did alright.

Every now and again, we’d run through a color station, that would blast us with more color powder (which was colored corn starch) and we would slow for that, but then take off again.

By the time we got toward the end, Johnny was holding his hand out on the far left, and I thought he was gonna give me a run-by high-five, but instead I ended up with an ice cold bottle of Gatorade in my hand, YES, thank you!

We *heart* you!

We finished NOT dead last! In fact, there were a LOT of people that started before us that came in after us, and God help me? I LOVED the running part. Who knew????

So yes, I can say I feel a whole helluva lot better about this 5K than I did the last one. And will it be my last? Oh, more than likely not. In fact, my friend Cindy tells me her church is doing a regular plain-jane 5K this fall, so I think I will sign up for that, and put my running mix on and see where that takes me.

For the record? We came in at 49 minutes and some change at the Hog Wild Mud Run back in April, and we ended up finishing (unofficially) at 43 minutes this time, so I don’t think I can totally complain.

Till Next Time…

The Whole Fam Damily, as it were! 🙂