Spring Lake Five

Let me start by saying that it was beautiful and breezy when we left the house. I wore my running skirt and a tank, and we took the train to avoid traffic. It was a half mile walk to the start, and the closer we got, the hotter it got. What?!?! It was at the beach!
10,000 Runners. 10K. CRAZY! I waited on line for the potty before the start just in case. The line was loooooong.


Over to the start with the masses, it was just NUTS!


Note the water bottle. I listened to the announcer saying to stay hydrated and carried that thing for the whole hour. I refilled it at every stop! I also took a mini bottle from some very sweet spectator. It was so nice and cold!
The weather, however, was not. 78* in the shade, and there wasn't much of that! It was very very hot and I was very very sweaty! I dumped water on my neck more than once, and stopped to walk a few times as well, mostly during mile 2. The course was beautiful! Spring Lake is gorgeous, and the victorian houses are so well kept! we ran around Lake Como and Spring Lake, and thankfully, there were 3 fire engines spraying water! The last mile was the worst, but the spectators were amazing, yelling that we were almost there and that we could do it!
Last half mile. An ambulance was coming to pick up someone who passed out. A couple running alongside me: guy telling girl she can do it. Girl saying that she can't. Guy saying she can. They sprint off ahead of me. As I crossed the finish, just shy of one hour, she was puking. There was a lot of puke. It smelled pretty bad!

I think this was harder than the Half, but I got my bling, and it was well worth it! It felt amazing to finish, upright and puke free. AND I beat a friend who beats me every time! WOOT!
SO glad I brought my daughter, because my finish line luck held fast (I have horrible luck with finish photos). Once again, there is a 2 minute window with no pics, and I crossed at that time!

OHHH, and of the over 10,000 registered, only 8,241 crossed the finish line!