I woke up rested, had my coffee as per usual, ate my so yummy Balance bar (thanks to my neighbor for hooking me up with an awesome bag of goodies), and checked my ipod to be sure the songs were right for the day. This is my "Exercise Playlist":
Another Way to Die (Jack White and Alicia Keys)
God in Me (Mary Mary)
Freakkum Dress (Beyonce)
Ring the Alarm (Beyonce)
Bootylicious (Destiny's Child)
Low (Flor Rida)
Play (Jennifer Lopez)
Ain't It Funny (Jennifer Lopez)
Yeah (Usher)
Let's Get Loud (Jennifer Lopez)
Halo (Manic Drive)
Big Belly Man (Mac Fingal)
Party Rock Anthem (LMFAO)
Paris (Grace Potter and The Nocturnals)
Domino (Jessie J)
Sexy and I Know It (LMFAO)
Without You (David Guetta and Usher)
Stronger (Kelly Clarkson)
Good Feeling (Flo Rida)
Price Tag (Jessie J)
Run (Matt Nathanson and Sugarland)
What a wacko collection! These are the songs I never tire of. Each song brings new energy and the lyrics either are so stupid and corny that I can just let my IQ plummet or the lyrics are so meaningful that each time I hear them I find a new level of understanding. This is the first time that I've ever looked at this list of songs and it feels strange to see this. It's like a little glimpse inside the inner workings of my mind and the mental tricks I have invented just to get through the torture of running.
Running is hard for me. I'm almost 42 years old. At one point in the last few years I weighed as much as 270 pounds and on the day I had my Lap-Band undone I weighed in the 140's. I'm currently somewhere in between. When I ran in the Gasparilla in 1999, I was over 200 pounds and that was 13 years ago. I used to wear two bras, a leotard, and two one piece body suits to keep all of the parts in place when I ran. (And a baggy top over all of that.) Now I wear one bra, a tank top, and an exercise skirt.
I arrived at the starting area about 30 minutes before the official start time. This year was the first year that the pack was to start in waves. I was in the middle group. That meant that I had 40 minutes to kill before the actual start. I listened to music, looked at my Pinterest inspirational pins, checked out my "competition", and thought about how pleased I was that this course was set up differently than the 1999 race. The start line was near the Davis Islands bridge and I had remembered when Cindy met me on the Brorein bridge and it was nice to know that I wasn't going to need to pass that spot. As I waited to start, I knew that Cindy was already with me.
I didn't run the whole 5K but I did improve my time by almost ten minutes. I ran until I got to Howard Ave. where my son and GrandMark were waiting for me. After some kisses and an offer of a Bloody Mary, I got to the "turn around point" and started to head north up Bayshore Blvd. When I got to about the two mile mark, I began to really feel the heat. That section of the road is black top, there's no shade, and the wind was 15-20 mph. I had to walk. I force myself to not start or stop at a "man-made" object: the end of the block, a stop sign, a mailbox, etc. I only use "things from nature" like trees, a bird, a shrub, grass growing through a crack in the sidewalk, etc. However, that stretch is like a desert.
Running on the right side of the road, where the run/walk folks were, I could see the finish line area ahead. Because of the curve of the road, I knew that the distance to the end was farther than I could manage. So, knowing that I needed a break, I walked from one palm tree to the fifth palm tee. Then ran for one song on my ipod and repeated the walk/run cycle until I got to the Davis Islands bridges. There were lots of folks cheering and I heard several compliments on my skirt. That made me smile.
Eventually, I crossed the finish line without seeing my daughter and husband. We met up at Publix after I got my medal. What a sight for sore eyes!
I did it.
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| 1999 |
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| 2012 |
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| Sneaker Charm |
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