You'll Have to Excuse me...

I have been a little bit busy as of late. A couple of races.... LOTS and LOTS of training. I have averaged 17.8 miles a week for the last 5 weeks. I have ran at least one that represented each season, summer heat, spring rainshowers, fall perfection, and winter cold. We kicked off Wednesday group runs in addition to Saturday morning group runs. I have been in a competition of high miles with my friend, A. I have ran in the Hot Mamas 5K. I even got to mark something of my running bucket list: Run a race in a tutu. The tutu ended up around my armpits, but I did it. The Hot Mamas was actually kind of fun. Not the greatest route. I personally don't care for the park that they held it in, but at least they had hot fireman handing out water.

I even got the opportunity to hang out with good friend, contact with an old friend, AND meet a new one.  So it's always a good time with friends around.

My running buddy/partner in crime, A, has even had me planking. Yes, planking. Not lets climb on weird objects and lay flat planking, but I scream out obscenities while "exercising" planking.

 

And today... well, today I faced perhaps what is my biggest irrational fear. Zombies! (I said it was an irrational fear, but that doesn't make it any less real. : / )I ran the Dirty 30 Zombie Edition.

 

The closest that I ever wanted to get to a zombie.

 

 

Trying to psyche myself up

 

I always have fun at the Dirty 30, but today was hard on several different levels. It was dead of winter cold today with a crazy, wild wind out of the north. The minute you hit the water you were chilled to the bone. The very first obstacle was a giant mud pit, so of course I fell in. As I'm drudging across it, I find a Cyndi-size hole right in the middle. I sank up to my chest and if it hadn't been for my friend, J, I would probably still be there...and frozen solid. As I came off of the mud hill, I came across my first zombie. I had to take a minute because I almost freaked. The look on J's face let me know that the look on my face said, "I'm about to bolt" and not in a good way. I took a deep breathe, told myself that they are people in makeup, and started moving again. I got swarmed and lost a flag almost immediately. I skipped the wall because I fall off of it on a good day and today, I couldn't even feel my fingers. I was soooooooo cold. Losing my second flag was kind of a blur. There was yelling, a few expletives, sprinting, dodging, and a flipping of the bird in there somewhere. My last flag went to a jerk that was hiding in the bushes. He jumped out and almost got drop kicked in the nads. We weren't allowed to touch or harm the zombies, but when you jump out at people from a hiding place, I believe that you are doing so at your own risk. He caught the tail end of my flag and ripped it off. : /

After that most zombies, left me alone. There were a few tools who took their job too seriously and still chased me even though I had no flags to take and had a terrified look on my face the whole time.

There was one zombie, who was very nice and was trying to be helpful, but really didn't help me any. He saw that I was flagless and terrified and he gave me a little pep talk. You know, "you're doing great. Keep going. Good job". and then he said, "I'll run with you a little bit". While he waved off some other zombies, his being RIGHT THERE pratically touching shoulders with me was not helping. I just kept my eyes forward, said thank you, and keep going. The one really awesome thing abou the race was the giant slip-n-slide. I approached it like you would slide into a base and took off like a shot. I almost took a poor girl out and had to a roll to my left to keep from running her over. I pray that they have that next summer Dirty 30. By the end of the race, I couldn't feel my hands or my legs, so I kind of just stumbled through the finish line, much like a zombie. There were my friends to cheer me on, J, and A, and A.

 

I wouldn't say that I have conquered my fear, but I now know that I can see a zombie and NOT curl up into a fetal position and cry. So that's a plus. I did have a fun day, but it probably had more to do with the company than the activity. J & A are awesome! Now I'm going to drink some hot tea and cuddle under a blanket with a few other little monsters.

 

Peace, Love, and Zombies!