#TBT Wings for Life Race Recap

5/8/2014

Remember when you were little and you ran EVERYWHERE. All around the house, from the one end of the playground to the other, to the car, to the beach, to the cereal lane in the grocery store, to each other, and away from each other. We would run and run and run without a care in the world...not our nutrition, not our compression socks, not our pace, not our time....we would just run until we felt like stopping.

On Sunday, I participated in the Wings for Life Event, a WORLD WIDE EVENT where runners in 35 countries on 6 contients were running simultaneously to raise funds for Spinal cord injuries. I ran it with a friend and teammate, Lupe Merlos, and a couple 100 other runners, who would also agree it was an incredible experience.

We ran like little kids:

We Matched. Head to toe, just like in middle school that you would excited match your best friend. (confession coming) I even took off my compression socks so we would be identical...well for that, and because it was a little cold and I thought that if they got wet (bodily fluid or water station mishap), the rest of the run would be more uncomfortable...and not to mention the terrible tan lines that would result from said accessory.

We Snacked. I think it's the first race that I have FEASTED. I ate Gu's of a variety of flavors that runners around me offered. I ate half a banana around mile 7 maybe (slowly like Lupe suggested) and then another half around mile 17. I had Gatorade, water, and an electrolyte juice that Lupe and I carried throughout the first half of the race. Parts of me were like: STICK TO WHAT YOU ARE USED TO, other parts of me were like: FEED ME!!! Nonetheless...No cramps to report or trips to the rest room, oh and definitely no trips to the ER (always a plus).

We Laughed & Played. "Smile, you are burning calories" was the mantra of our race....and we didn't even know we were going to get 4 seconds of national TV time. Throughout the race we also played a couple games including "hide and Seek", "Tag- you're it", and "I'm gonna find you" with unsuspecting targets along the course. With old friends, with aquaintances that became friends, and even with running idols we realized were just regular runners (when not in their element- TRACK)

We ran until we were tagged. No pace, no distance calculator, no real goal past what we had originally set out to run (13.1 miles- we hit at 1:34). We just followed the road and WFL signs--not knowing what lied ahead in the remaining miles, but NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT EITHER.

In the end, the Catcher Car caught Lupe and I at mile 21.33 after around 2:40mins of running. Neither of us had run over 14 miles in a couple years. Since the Miami Half marathon, Lupe has been focusing on TRACK (shorter events) while I have been more "off-season"-ing until a couple weeks ago when I started tri-training. But regardless of our training or milage...the WORLD RUN, the milage we were able to log, and the joy we felt participating... THAT surprised us both.