Running on the beach

Last Sunday at 4:30 a.m. my family, some friends, and I got up and drove an hour away to Virginia Beach. The reason? Our friends and my Dad were going to run the half-marathon (13 miles), and I was running 4 1/2 miles. As soon as we got to the start line, it became clear just how big this thing was.

With about sixteen THOUSAND other people running, plus spectators, they had to set up about twenty corrals. It looked fun, until we felt the heat! In corral thirteen it took about ten minutes to get started, and when we did I was already dehydrated. The miles went on and on; the humidity was horrible; finally the split-off came and we had 100 meters left.

Anyone who slowed down got a nudge, and a "don't give up now." I sprinted the last bit, hit the finish hard, and was rewarded with mist and ice cream and drinks and the OCEAN - the best part of the whole the event.  

  

(To give you an idea I can feel the heat just from writing this so I'm going to stop now!)