My friend Deanna told me about this run that was starting at her father’s gym on Super Bowl Sunday.  I wanted to do it, but knew there would be a lot of good runners there.  I gave in and said I would, I thought it would be good preparation for the Shamrock Run in Portland that I am doing March 13th. 

Deanna and I before the race

Darren and I before the race

We could not ask for a more perfect day, the skies were blue, no clouds in sight.  It wasn’t even very cold.  Deanna, my husband, and I got ourselves stretched out at the gym.  I had a million butterflies in my stomach, as this was my first official run.  There were people there I recognized and my husbands old wrestling coach was present as well.  He was running with his wife, who had just qualified for the Boston Marathon.  She was doing this run in preparation for the marathon. 

Finally at 9:15am, it was time to load the buses and head up towards the dam.  They would drop us off and someone would announce the official time to start.  The time keeper announced 5 minutes to starting and I was even more nervous.  I knew I could do it, I had done a run in the canyon near my house the previous weekend, and I did fine.  I think it was just because this is all new to me.  Soon, the time keeper announce 1 minute, followed by 30 seconds, and then “GO”.  We took off at an steady even pace.  A lot of the pack went on ahead of us, but we figured slow and steady would get us to the finish line.  We had some people in front of us that set our pace, and we knew mid way that we wanted to catch and pass them.  We passed one of them on the up hill and the other headed downhill.   

Just coming down the hill making a pass

Pretty soon I heard some cheering and realized some friends of mine had come and were standing in there truck bed yelling and cheering us on.  That pumped us up and I knew we didn’t have to much further to go.  I knew I could finish in a respectable time, and I was pretty pleased. 

Thank goodness, only 1 1/2 miles to go

We will keep on truckin'

When we round the corner to head into town, and saw the orange cones that directed us to the finish line,  we put it in high gear.  Our adrenaline pushed us the extra distance and we sprinted to the finish line.  We were pretty proud to learn we finished toward the front of the pack.  I was very happy about that and was already getting anxious for my next run.  Portland we will be coming for you soon.

Darren's last few hundred yards

Darren almost at the finish line