Sunday, April 19, 2009

Oranges Always Taste Better When Running

So it happened, and once again I lived to write about it.
In fact, both my mother and I did!
Robie Creek went just swell. The weather was perfect! Mid 70's, a light breeze that powered me up a few rough spots once or twice, and the sun shone (Ask my mom about her hilarious iPod sunburn, cuz it's just that!) For those of you who may not know, Robie is 8.5 miles uphill- 3 miles are through a neighborhood near Tablerock, and then on a dirt road for the remaining 5.5. The next 4.6 are downhill- and when I say downhill I mean "OMG my I can't stop my legs!" steep. The fast time down does remedy some of the time lost going up, though. Last year iPods were banned, but this year they were reinstated as non-contraband, and I was really glad. It was nice to have Bob Marley, Dave Matthews, Rhianna, and 311 cheer me on. :)
I definitely didn't feel ready to run before the day came, but when the race started I think the adrenaline picked up the tab for the cost of not training all that much... along with the help of 4 ibuprofen. I felt unusually excellent. I am definitely not complaining about that!
The race progressed quite nicely... the only part I didn't enjoy was the downhill. I was tired. That's about it. The last two miles seem like four. I just wanted to stop and oh, when I saw there was only .1 mile left I was thanking the heavens above! And when I saw the finish line... ahhh man it was great. 2:15:30. One minute worse than last year.
After Robie is one big party. In fact, that is half the reason I run! The food is great, and this year I even got an award. That's right! You're reading the work of the 1ST PLACE LOSER! Haha yeah.. I got 2nd in my age group. Wooooh. When they called my name I danced all the way up to the stage.. Diana will testify of it. Hahaha the announcers said that "I must not have run fast enough with all that energy."
After running Robie for the 2nd time, I am a bit cautious as to whether I want to run another 1/2. It's not that I'm afraid of other races, it's that I'm just afraid they won't be as good or fun as Robie is. This year the theme was Picasso's- "The Blue Period", and some people REALLY get into the different themes every year. My favorite part was seeing some guy in a kilt.. sorry buddy, that was LAST year's theme. :) Anyways, it was REALLY great, and I'm sad I can't run next year... it'll be in the midst of BYU finals. Boo hoo. Guess I am going to have to face my fears and find another half.. or full :)



And here we are. The Champs! Kurt also got 2nd in his age group, and then Sierra got 3rd. Yay for us! Oh, and thanks to Diana for taking all these pics, and volunteering/cheering us on. Ella es la mejor!

4 comments:

The Ball Babies said...

I was so proud to hear your name read as the 2nd place winner, but so sad to see the lame prizes they handed out. Oh, well, you did an excellent job, my dear! I'm proud of you and the dance you did all the way up to the stage! It's over! Yay!

Diana said...

Awwww thanks for the photo credit shout out!! ha

tball said...

YEAH Alyssa! Awesome that you had so much fun, but even better to get 2nd place!

Aly G said...

Congrats Alyssa! 2nd isnt to shabby at all. You look amazing in the pics, you do not look like you just ran a 1/2! You look great and should be so proud of yourself! What an accomplishment!