Race Report... or lack thereof

So, this past Saturday was the Race for the Cure, a 5k fundraiser run for breast cancer research/awareness to which several of you graciously donated support for me and my team of "Wild and Woodsy Women."

As it turned out, 11 gals and 1 guy signed up on the team, and collectively we raised $1,599 for Komen Montana.

Unfortunately, I was not able to race. I caught a nasty bug a day or two before the race that started with a sore throat, then progressed to a profuse amount of sneezing and nose running, and then in the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning moved into my lungs and lent itself to massive body-shaking coughing fits. I got a total of about 2 hours of sleep Friday night. It was a miserable night. I kept trying to sleep, but just couldn't stop my runny nose or coughing. I kept looking at the clock thinking, "Okay, if I fall asleep RIGHT NOW I can still get 4 hours of sleep-- that's enough to make it to the race." But at about 4:45 am, after only a brief nap earlier in the evening, I nearly resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to make the race. At 6am when the alarm went off, though, I still had a shred of hope. I went out to the living room to put on my running clothes that I'd set out the night before. But I soon went into a coughing fit and awoke Jim, who had camped out on the couch for the night so he could get some sleep. "I don't think I can go to my race," I whimpered, plopping down on the floor next to him. He patted my head and agreed that no, it wouldn't be good for me, nor for my teammates, for me to go try to run and subsequently hack and sneeze all over everyone.

Disappointedly, I started calling the teammates who were planning to carpool from Missoula, so that they'd know not to expect me. It was a bummer to have to bail. But they all understood.

They all went on to run or walk the race, though, and called me later in the day to report on how things went. Everyone did great, and seemed to have a good time. Beth completed her first 5k in just over 40 minutes-- whoo hoo! Jenny and Liz finished strong as usual. Amy, Kristina, and Kelsey tried out their gazelle-like legs, after sorting their way through a slow, clogged start. Amy said it was fun to be able to pass people the whole race. It definitely sounded like a fun event, but not the best of races to do if trying to PR (set a personal record).

Thanks, again, to everyone who contributed and/or participated in the event! Let's try again next year!