$99, 3 cities, and 12 miles later, I've run the Wild Rover.

Today (err, technically yesterday now) was the last race of the 2011 Wild Rover Series- the Hynes Tavern 5 miler. I went into it with pretty high expectations for myself so I was kind of nervous. Although the beginning of the day was a slight train wreck, everything turned out way better than I thought it would.

To start, as we were driving to Lowell, it began to rain. Rain can be ominous, especially when you've psyched yourself up so much. After getting out of the car, we noticed that it was probably about 10 degrees colder than the weather man predicted. The race attire I had selected consisted of my lightest-weight tech t-shirt and shorts. Some people were dressed for the Arctic. And then, with a half hour to go before the race start, I went to use the bathroom only to find about a hundred people in front of me. Any logical person would have taken care of business before leaving the house. I did so. But my system always freaks the hell out on race days and I repeatedly find myself in this type of situation. With about 10 people in front of me in line, I chanced a look at my watch. 12:50. The race was to start at 1:00. Panic much?

Running through the cemetery. Photo by J. Rhoades

Needless to say, my warm-up consisted of jogging to the starting line. At least I made it in time. At the last second, I found Dad and asked "What do you want me to run?" "8" was his reply. The race itself went really well. I went out at a quick but steady pace, not wanting to burn out (which I did a little bit around mile 2 but I recovered). This course was neat because we got to run on highway overpasses and through a cemetery where supposedly Jack Kerouac is buried. There were no Mt. Claddaghs in this course but there were "rolling hills," which are like the ones around my house, so I didn't worry about them too much. I went by the 3 mile mark in 23:12, which is my exact finishing time from the Frozen Shamrock 3 weeks ago. I went by the 4 mile mark in about 31 minutes, faster than I ran Claddagh. At that point, I know this sounds awful, but I realized it was literally impossible to miss my 40 minute goal time, so I didn't kill myself in the last mile. But a car almost had the pleasure- it pulled out into the street in front of us and just hung out there for a few seconds. FYI- runners hate cars. It's like, yeah, we're trying to get somewhere in a hurry too, and we're working a hell of a lot harder than you are, Mr. Lexus.

Anyway, my parents were both at the finish, screaming my name. My final time was 39 flat, over 4 minutes faster than I ran Bradford a month ago. As was the case last week, my splits were almost perfectly even (not sure how that's happening but cool). But the thing that impacted me most was my parents' enthusiasm after I crossed the line. They were beyond proud of me that I'd broken the magic 8 minute barrier; my dad let out a whoop that earned us quite a few stares. Per usual, I sacrificed my free beer to him ("Next year it will be mine," I assured the volunteer passing them out). We'd brought my series medal and a pair of pliers in my backpack so I could wear the completely assembled medal right away; it looks awwwwwesome. We then had a kind stranger take a picture of us all together. And THEN, I saw Mr. Lou Peters finish his race and I was lucky enough to snag a photo with him. I pretty much love that man.

When I got home, I chewed some Pepto tablets (since the race wasn't physically agreeing with me all that well), curled up on the couch under a blanket, and watched some of Snow White on ABC Family while Dad did his daily walk around the block. Eventually I mustered up enough energy to shower and change- into my new shirt, naturally. And obviously it made sense to wear my medal around the house. Ruby and Anjie were impressed, at least.

So it's past midnight, Ruby's trying to eat the plastic bag that my race t-shirt came in, and I'm seriously contemplating doing the Disney Wine and Dine Half and/or the Disney Marathon Weekend half/full/both. But I also have about 10 race fliers for local events taking place in the next few weeks. Decisions decisions.

With Coach/Dad and my completed bling

Me with the two most important people in my life. Awww.

Me and Lou!!