Woo to the Serious, Impossible, Hoo

I very rarely toot my own horn. But this is one such occasion where I'm gonna do some serious rootin' and tootin'. Because Poo and I tewtaly deserve it!

On Saturday, we ran in our first ever 5km race (toot #1) It was back in March, I think, that Poo initially mentioned a 5km race in June... Something about raising money for cancer treatment... And so I made a mental note, but never really thought much of it. We're vair new at this running thing, Poo and I, see. At least I am. I used to boast my motto was "why run when you can lie down?" But certain life situations lit a fire under my @ss, and as such, I had the burning desire to run, and to run far and to run fast. And run I did. On a track, on a treadmill, inside, outside, with a fox, in a box, Sam I am, etc.

A few weeks ago we revisited the decision, and decided that yes, we would participate. And yes, we would do a practice run of the course. And yes, we would go to Lululemon and treat ourselves to stylish new running gear so we at least looked profesh, even if our racing results proved otherwise.

We did none of these things. I ran at night, as per usual, and Poo did her thing. And no fancy gear was purchased, and we actually got lost on the way to the site, because neither one of us had bothered to check the directions.

*ahem*

This is me gearing up for the race. They gave us band-type thingy's to track our times, and you'll note I'm wearing it around my left arm, and not on my ankle (as we later found out was the standard... le sigh) We were most excited by the prospect of our pinny's, which we spent mucho time positioning just so... We then spent all our pre-race time worrying we were crinkling them during our stretches and "how were we going to scrapbook them if they were all crinkled?"

Start time... We gear up, and head to the back of the line, behind the moms pushing two kids in a stroller, and some dude carrying his wee Toto dog. We didn't want to get trampled by the fast-ies who were going to blow right by us...

*Horn blast* and we're off. Avril and "Girlfriend" set a nice pace, and before we know it, we're passing all the aforementioned fast-ies who burned themselves out running the first .5km at top speed up hill. 1km, 2km, 3km, a quick Gatorade break for which there wasn't a ready cup for me even though I was most excited about grabbing one as I went by, like that lady in the multivitamin commercial who grabs the grapes and the baguette... But I digress...

4km... I'm feeling tired and thirsty and whiny, Poo pulls ahead and I'm thinking of slowing to a walk... But the adrenaline kicks in and I surge forward, passing dearest Poo and what she would later describe as "Seabiscuit"--a rather snarly woman who was damned she wasn't gong to let both me AND Poo pass her.

Would you believe it?! We both finished in less than 30 minutes! I know! I can hardly believe it myself! Here's Poo looking pleased as punch post-race. But wait... You haven't even heard the best part... My stats:

• 27th overall (out of 145).



• 11th female overall.



• 3rd female in my age category!

They even called my name and gave me a pin! I almost peed my pants! Poo and I were so puffy about ourselves, thinking we'd done really well by beating our expected 45 minute mark... But to come in 3rd and 5th in our age category?! Holy bananas!!! Totally floored. We were both standing there with our mouths open all, "Um, did this just happen? I think this just happened... Did they just call your name? Ohmagawd they just called my name..."

I'm just so pleased with us and how hard we tried, and how completely unexpected-ly good we both were! Our goal is to next year go back to the same race and run the 10km. But next up is the Dundas Cactus Festival 5km. Not to big, not to small. Woo to the serious, impossible hoo.