It was thrilling to participate in the Pat Tillman run on Saturday. His jersey number was 42, so the race was 4.2 miles. Meredith loaded her little family up at 5:15 in the morning, so she and I could be a part of this great event. We were in the midst of a sea of people. Over 20,000 people attended. There was a wonderful spirit there. It was very gratifying to finish this race. I had one expectation of myself: Not to finish last! Perhaps, I should have set my standard a little higher; however, this was the first 5k event I have participated in, and I did not know what to expect.
The best part about the race was hearing people warn each other about the killer hill. I tried to pace myself for this hill. I kept looking for it. Meredith and I were separated, so I asked a lady where the hill was.
"You just did it," She responded!
I could not believe it. It was more like running an incline up the bridge. I was so concerned about being separated form Meredith and trying to catch up with her, that I did not even notice it.
At the beginning of the race, a woman gave me a high-five when she learned that I came from Georgia to do this race. Actually, I went to Arizona to be with Meredith. Running Pat's Race was an added bonus of my time with her.
Here are my Stats:
20,629 people finished the race. I was 11,093.
10,339 were women. I was the 4,289th woman to finish. I was happy about finishing in the top half.
In my age bracket of women between the ages of 40-42, there was 625 of us.
I came in at 280.
I ran at a pace of 10.59 per mile.
I completed the race in 46.07 minutes.
Not too shabby for a girl who just didn't want to finish last last!
A sea of people.
This photo really does not capture how many people were in the stadium.
Meredith and I were separated at the finish line. It took us over 10 minutes to locate each other.
I was just about in a panic mode when I finally heard her call my name!
Lindsay and Caroline ran in the kid's fun run. Caroline was a trooper.
She has an ingrown toe nail, but she ran the race anyway wearing her Ugg boots.
Hooray for Uggs!
