Halloween Half

Here I lay in my bed. Too sore to do anything else. Honesty I was trying to think of a time that I've ever been this sore. Nothing came to mind. I think the only thing that came close was when I went snowboarding the first (and only) time.
Friday I got off work early and headed over to the mall to pick up our race packets. Good thing I had gotten off work early since I had to wait in line and hour and a half to get our stuff. They had had problems with the registration and packet preparation and many of the packets hadn't been printed. After I finally got them I headed home to get all my stuff together for the next day. I went over to Katie's house to help her with a quilt for her new baby and just hang out with her. I decided to stay there since my family would be staying there and I even remembered my ear plugs so I would be able to sleep in the same room as my dad. I went to bed just after 11 only to be awoken at 1:40 by my sister calling for directions. They didn't leave till about 9 since my sister had a work party to attend. I couldn't go back to sleep after that and layed there for an hour before I got up to get something to eat. I sat upstairs eating a power bar and watching TV with Marc for an hour before going back downstairs and finally going to sleep, only to have the alarm go off a few hours later.
Julie and I got up and got ready and headed to the mall to catch the bus. Now considering it was the end of October and 7 in the morning and that we've had a hard freeze warning, it wasn't that cold. But all that aside, it was still cold. We didn't want to have to check a bag or drop our stuff on the side of the road, so we just were in our costumes.
Julie and I stood huddled together for an hour waiting for our turn to load the bus. I hadn't realized the the Mall was blocking the wind. Once we got to the end of the mall and had to go out into the parking lot, it was RIDICULOUSLY cold. We were very grateful when it was finally our turn to get on the bus.
At the race start we continued to be huddled together inside the waiting tent. It was fun to see everyone's costumes. The lines for the bathroom were ridiculously long, as it got closer to race time things got better so we ventured out into the cold to use the bathroom and head to the start line. They started in two groups and we went in the second group.
It was all down hill. Literally. I was getting blisters on my toes around mile 3. At mile 6 I was hungry. There was never any food. Only water and diluted heed, that we are still questioning whether or not it was actually heed at all. At mile 7 I started to get cranky. My good sister just kept me running. I'm sure I would have walked a lot more than I did if she hadn't been there. My right hip started hurting at mile 5, my right knee around mile 8, left knee around mile 9. It was long At mile 12 I just wanted to cry.
Then there was dad. Cheering us on and running along side us. On the phone telling me mom we were on our way. Then I could hear mom whistling. I started searching the lines of people on either side of the path and finally spotted them.

Katie, Marc, and my cousin Rick were also there cheering us with their posters. It was good to see them and know that we were close to the end. Julie was cheering me on too. Telling me to give it all I had. I had nothing left, but she didn't believe me. Finally we finished. I found our time online 2 hours 16 minutes 58 seconds. After taking our shoes off, eating some fruit and walking around for a while, we found everyone else and headed to Applebees. Food! Then it was shower time, fit my bike in the car, and head over to Katie's. I was already feeling sore right after the race, but add to that tired and feeling quite awful and it was a recipe for laying on the floor crying. Crying seemed to help things out. My friend Phil came over and we made some apple crisp. My mom found it very entertaining to watch us slowly bend over to pick up apple peels that missed the garbage. He was also sore from his workouts for the week. All night was slow movements and the dread of sitting down or standing up. But really none of that compares to how sore I am today. I went to church for an our and then left. I was still so tired and sitting just made me more sore. Now I lay here in my bed trying to hydrate myself and thinking about stretching and taking some more ibuprofen. Wish me luck.