ACS 1/2 Mary - 5/08

Oh boy this was a fun 1/2. I ran with my sister Hope and we had a blast. I have been on a quest to make running fun, not just competitive. Now don't get me wrong, I love to compete against myself. To push myself further than I thought I could go. But this race was about sticking with a sister and going through the hard spots together. LOL! I said SPOT!
Background
Hope (my sis) and I trained for the Racefest 1/2 that took place in April. For many crazy reasons, we did not get to do it. So I found this 1/2 on the ASC greenway for $10. WOW what a bargain. We have been running on the trails at Reedy Creek park...dodging snakes, frogs, and serial killers. So we went into this sorta prepared.
Hope and I found the finish line with no problem. Too bad we had not started the race. We were wondering where everyone was...oh, at the starting line. We warmed up by running to the starting line then running for cover when the starting gun went off...DUDE! I live in the city. When I hear a gun, I duck!
B/4 the 1st mile was over, Hope felt like she was really getting her feet wet. HaHa!

I know it looks like I can walk on water, but.....Maybe I am just going so fast...HaHa. As you can see, this is already a true adventure. Running through the creek was just the beginning.
Here is Hope still going strong around mile 2ish.
Oh here is mile 2. We are jumping roots and still splashing through the woods. At this point, there is no one around us so we choose to believe we are winning.
Even though at this point we think we are DLF. We find out later we are not. There were plenty of people behind us. We just never see them.
Here ia the 1st of many swinging bridges.

And as luck would have it, it starts to swing with Hope on it.
Here is Hope around mile 6 reenacting her "almost" fall into a big pile of sticks...as seen above.
UP...UP...UP! Mile 7ish
DOWN...DOWN.....DOWN!
Rock.......

...... and rolling around mile 8.
Oh, NO! I am stuck in the mud...and with at lest 4 miles to go....well if we had stayed on course.
Around mile 9 is where a runner can start to lose it....Hope is handling the mind games well. With insanity! At this point...we have somehow gotten off the trail and are trying to find our way back. We ran around 15/20 min longer than we should have!
But we did find our way back and finished with style! Hope later said she had found muscles she did not know she had b/c they were all hurting. This 1/2 was a blast and I hope to do it again next year....
A strong finish for a great race. And I placed 3rd in my AG!