Final Installment of Grete’s Gallop HM

So you’ve seen outfits.

You’ve read about the  course.

Now it’s time to get to the actual mechanics of the run.

I bet your ready to hear more about rainbows and sunshine.   Well your in for a real treat because the actual run kind of sucked!

Are you shocked that I said that?

Don’t be.

Yes, I ended up trudging through it which is what I needed to do.   It was a great training course with the rolling hills of the park.  This was the perfect course to prepare me for my Hat Trick.   To prove to myself that I could run it without stopping.

Yes, I finished in a decent time of 2:20:04.   You know what? It still sucked.

  Why?

Let’s see………

Around mile 3, I developed a muscle cramp

(AKA a charlie horse in my right calf)

Around mile 7, my damn toe and ball of my foot started to hurt.

Then there were the lies – This is the last hill.   It’s all down hill from here.   Your almost there.

But in the end it didn’t matter.

I crossed the finish line and although I didn’t forget any of the pain,

It was worth it.

I needed to know that I could push through the pain and finish.

I did.

Rule of the road when running in a tutu

You need to be able to back it up:)

I’m not sure if I would have finished as quickly though without friends to share the pain with.

One friend may have seen a different side of me as I may have been a bit of a sailor with my words to deal with the pain.

One friend was inspiring because she was dealing with her own pain from pushing herself to her limits and she kept going.

Even better,

We all smiled when we crossed the finish line together!

I will have to remind myself that I can do it, no matter what.

Right now, I’m focused on getting my legs and feet back in shape.

I’ve got 10 days to go till the Hat Trick.

If anything, this run taught me that sometimes you just have to suck it up and run through the pain

because

Pain really is temporary (in this case)

and

the felling of accomplishment will be forever.