So a couple of months ago I saw an advertisement for a very interesting 5k race called "Night of the Running Dead Race" where everyone comes either dressed like zombies or humans.... so, I signed up and posted on facebook to have others come and join me. Now, I am NOT a runner, nor did I even plan on running any part of the race, I just wanted to participate in something active where at the end I could feel like I accomplished something...and luckily several of my friends saw the post and decided to join in the fun and do the race too.
Before the race several people came over to my house for some "pre-run" festivities, we chatted, laughed, ate, and just enjoyed getting all made up in our zombie gear and preparing for the race. Because all of my friends are at different fitness levels than me, we all seemed to get a little separated at the beginning...well, except for me and my sweet friend Beth who decided to hang back and take things slow with me. As we began the race I swear to you it was all up hill... really up hill... and I was so not prepared for that and I seemed to go slower than even I thought I would be going, but I had Beth by my side and we just chatted as we walked...up hill... but we kept walking. Part of the course was to walk through a neighborhood and the awesome part was that most of the people living in that neighborhood were all out on their porch cheering the runners on... even Beth and I, the very last ones in the race... but they were out there, cheering.... encouraging us to keep going. I think it would have been pretty fun to watch 3000 runners come through your neighborhood...some dressed as zombies all chasing the humans... awesome. Anyway, literally Beth and I were the very last people in the race... but still, there were people standing on the sidelines cheering. There were several points during the course where I just wanted to give up, I was getting tired, it was uphill, my legs and feet were killing me... but we kept going... sadly, after about 2.25 miles, we got lost, yes, I said lost... because we were so behind everyone else, there was nobody directing the runners/walkers anymore and we took a wrong turn that ended up with us at the finish line, without actually finishing the entire race... it was kind of funny really... but hey, what can you do... I am still claiming that I finished the race LOL and it was a fun evening!
Later on in the week the race got me thinking just about how in life we all need people on the sidelines cheering us on... even when life seems hard, and it's all uphill, we need someone who will tell us to "hang in there" or "keep going".... people who will stay by our side through the difficult times... we all need cheerleaders just to get by... and luckily I am blessed to have many cheerleaders in my life.. and I can't tell you how much you all mean to me! I am truly one lucky chick!
It was a really fun night. I think the cheering definitely helped me also. Thanks for suggesting this race.
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