The morning of the race was warm -- 50s -- but rainy. Luckily it didn't end up raining during the race! Alice met some of her teammates in their tent before the race. The coaches were there, but there didn't seem to be any last minute pep talks or group bonding or anything. Although, due to traffic, we did get there a bit late so maybe that occurred prior to our arrival.
Zac was Alice's "running buddy" for the race. Thank goodness--because I certainly couldn't have done it! I was still in pain when I was standing up, but I managed to hobble around the parking lot with Simon.
There were hoards of people there! It was quite exciting!
I didn't know the route of the course, so Simon and I found a good spot to wait for Zac and Alice to return to the finish line in the parking lot. It would be the last turn of the race, and there was a tree Simon could climb while waiting.
After about 34 minutes, we saw them jogging around the corner! They looked in good form and nobody was crying! (Ok, well, I was crying because I felt so proud of Alice and was also frustrated with myself for having so many health problems and just not being a runner in general. I got hit with an unexpected wave of emotions!)
Girls with accomplishments!
Zac reported that Alice did a great job and ran the whole way -- only pausing to grab a cup of water on the way. She was in good spirits and had a great attitude!
One of the things she seemed most focused on in the days leading up to the race was that one of the coaches mentioned you could get your hair dyed at the race. Alice was really fixated on that. Sure enough, she found the place and got hair dye sprayed on. She was so happy about it.
From bibs to bibs...they grow up fast.
