My First Race!

Saturday was busy! It started with my first race, then moved on to my cousin's wedding in Gastonia, and ended by staying with friends that live in Matthews, NC. I woke up Sat. morning NERVOUS! I was going to run my first race! The Autism Society race began at 9:00. Our coaches told us that if we got there early and did a one mile warm-up and ran the 3 miles, then we wouldn't have to make up the extra mileage we missed that day. (We were supposed to run 8 miles with the team. Yeah for races!) So, I meet Claire (a girl on my team) and we did our warm-up. I was thinking it was crazy to run before a race, but there were other avid runners doing the same. I went back to my car to tape on the part of my number bib that I had taken off. I didn't realize I was supposed to keep it on, but luckily I had brought tape just in case! I called my parents only to find out they were at the race looking for me! They had surprised me! They woke up at 4:45 to make it up here in time! They were my cheerleaders and picture takers! I was thinking I would probably run in the race in 35 minutes since I had been running a 12 minute mile. I finished in 30 min. 8 secs.!!! I was happy about the 30 part, but would have loved to have left off that 8 part! However, this is my best race time ever! Of course, it's also my first race time ever!
After the race, we went back to the house. I did a few things, got lunch, showered, and we took off for Gastonia. My cousin Russ was marrying Jessica. It was an interesting wedding. They are both deaf but have had surgeries and therefore hear a little. There was a large crowd of deaf people and several people in the wedding were deaf. They had 3 interpreters and they did dance to a song. I think they had been practicing some moves!!! After the wedding, I drove 40 more minutes to stay with my friends Heather and Rob and their two boys, Nathan and Jack. We had some catching up to do, some playing to do, and some shopping to do for a baby shower we are giving the beginning of November. Whew! I need to recover before the work week starts!