Consider it Conquered.

"I Conquered the Hill".  That's what my shirt says, anyway.  And it's true, if by "conquering" you mean making it to the finish line without vomiting or feeling like vomiting. In my world, that equals spectacular. They might as well have given me the first place medal on that one.

Since I semi-sorta-kinda promised to write about how it went, I feel I must expound upon the details for those loyal 7 readers of this blog, even though at least half of them saw me, talked to me, or ran with me that day.  So here it goes. 

First of all, I must say that I absolutely love running in Kansas City's downtown area in the early morning.  I don't live down there, and even if I did I would not be braving those streets as a lone female runner. However, races like this offer an opportunity to see parts of the city in a different light.  There's something about that area of town that makes me feel like I'm on a mini vacation.  Maybe it's because downtown KC has a long running reputation as a dead zone.  On race day, the palpable excitement and extra activity only serves to heighten the anticipation of the race start.

As the gun goes off, the mass of people starts to move, walking at first, then moving up to a slow jog.  In that moment, you feel part of something much bigger than yourself.  The sense of community and connectedness cannot be described.  The series of hills as you look north deeper into downtown helps to create an awesome sight: a grand collection of living beings, all different and all the same, moving as one entity as far as the eye can see.  It never fails to bring about a very emotional response in me.  I wouldn't go so far as to say it brings tears to my eyes (lump in my throat could equal impending doom or sweet emotion) but that part alone is worth every training mile and dime I spent to register. 

If you've never been to a race or participated in one, I have to encourage you to do one, the other, or both.  It's more fun if you're cheering for a friend/relative, but it's an interesting experience no matter what the circumstance.  At most athletic events, the body types of the participants are much the same.  At a race such as this, you see all kinds.  There are larger folks, people with the stereotypical "runner's body", giant people (seriously, there was a giant bald man that resembled Mr. Clean right down to the earring), old people, people with physical challenges, little people, kids, wheelchair athletes, really old people, and just about everybody else.  I never cease to be amazed at how quickly the human body can propel itself forward with only the strength in two legs, regardless of build or muscle mass. 

Usually I am passed throughout the race by people who have what I would consider to be absolutely horrid running form.  I'm no coach, but sometimes their form makes me almost hurt, and I wonder what kind of injuries they're sustaining thanks to their odd gait.  It seems that they're expending countless amounts of energy running in that way, but clearly they are ahead of me, or their form would be a moot point.  There would probably be tons of serious runners critiquing my form if any of them ran slower than me. Thankfully, none of them do.

I ran this race, as I do most of them, with my friend and training partner Jill.  She and I chatted during the parts where we could breathe, and motivated one another when the going got a little rough on some of those challenging uphills. The great thing about running with a friend is that you can make comments about any given situation while you're on the course.  Most things that happen during a race provide a good story afterward, and this race was no exception.

The day was hot.  Temperature hot, and seriously so.  The sun wasn't out, but the humidity and heat made it difficult from the beginning.  Somewhere in the middle of the race, one of the volunteers at the water station had a portable fan/sprinkler combo aimed at the incoming runners.  At this point, we were all definitely feeling the temperature and exertion.  As we were approaching the aid station, we heard the leader of a group of girl runners just to our left (whom I will refer to as Miss Bossypants) yell, "Stay out of the water...whatever you do, do not go in the water,"  Her obviously struggling first-timer friend running alongside her whinily replied, "But I want to!  I'm so hot!".  As we looked over, Bossy was giving her girls a stink-eye not normally seen outside the Christmas shopping checkout lanes.  She even turned around while running to make sure none of her cohorts were getting into the water.  Jill and I were thoroughly annoyed and therefore proceeded to run right through it, glad that we had a little heat reprieve.  Jill's comment later was, "If that girl had been my friend, I would have been tempted to grab her by the shirt and toss her over into the water".  Duly noted...I don't know whether she was concerned about chafing or the post-race chills, but since it was approximately 400 degrees outside, I highly doubt it was the latter. The world may never know.

The final part of the race was a downhill portion, with the finish right in front of Crown Center. I love it when the last mile makes you feel fast (I so rarely feel that way, I'll take what I can get).  Jill and I made a strong finish, and passed through to collect all the post-race goodies.  There were plenty of giveaways, prompting me to wish I had brought along a little grocery bag so I could do my weekly shopping. 

All in all, it was an experience I look forward to repeating.  Maybe next year I'll even tackle the half marathon. I am sure I'll be thankful for the fans--both the human variety and the water sprinkler types--Miss Bossypants can't stop me.