RACE DAY from Jill's Perspective

It’s the night before the race, my very first race, ever. I’m so excited I can barely stand it. I feel a little bit like I did the night before my wedding. Full of hope anticipation and expectation. I have a lot of emotions and thoughts running through my head. I thought I would share a few of these with you. Well, first I think I will share my nightmare from a couple weeks ago so we end this blog on a high note.
So the other night I dreamt it was race day. Me Cassie and Amy were there ready to go and so excited. We take our spots at the start line and we are surrounding with 2 types of people: children under the age of ten and men and women with really gray hair, obviously much older than us….Since we all color and/or pluck our gray hair out (with the exception of Cassie – she is the youngest and has no gray). The race begins and we are doing it. However, we are at the very back of the pack. Everyone passes us and just as we are about to cross the finish line an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair with an IV attached to him zooms right by us. We were dead last. I woke up in cold sweat.
THIS is how I daydream about the race.
It’s race day. Me Cassie and Amy show up looking like Movie Stars in our Running Spuds T-shirts (courtesy of Advertising Mania) with full makeup and the best ponytails you ever saw. I am wearing the sweatband of all sweatbands. Our fan’s line the streets with Running Spuds shirts and Signs with my name in glitter chanting our names. The crowd goes wild. They wanna know who we are, where they can get a shirt, and where did I get my cute sweatband. The gun sounds and we take off. The sun shining on us, not a gray hair in sight. We stand a little taller, run a little faster, and wave to our adoring fans. Even Oprah shows up to bid us Good Luck. She’s been following the blog and finds us hysterical.
We are laughing. We are the pace setters. The Epcot ball is glistening in the sun and we are pumped. Oh look, there is the water station. I’ll take one of those. I chug the water, crush the cup and toss it to the side. I can hear music. It beats to my pace. I smile to everyone cheering us on. Finally, we see it. The finish line…It is the most glorious thing I have ever seen. Our pace picks up we hold hands raise them high and cross the line with the whole world chanting…RUNNING SPUDS RUNNING SPUDS RUNNING SPUDS. We stop, the whole world stops and it’s just the three of us. All we can hear now is the sound of our hearts beating and theme music to Rocky. We look at each other and burst into tears. We hug each other and our family comes over and gives us a giant group hug. WE DID IT!!!!
And then of course a giant jug of Gatorade is poured over heads.
It might be a stretch, but oh well. It could happen.
Now, I will share with you what actually happened on RACE DAY.
What no one tells you about running a morning race is that you have to get up early. We FINALLY know what the butt-crack of dawn looks like, and let us tell ya - it ain't pretty. Speaking of pretty, we decided that we were going to need to look beautiful when we crossed the finish line, so we all did full makeup and hair, which required us getting up even earlier!

Each of us had our own personal night-before preparations for the race. I tried on all my clothes and ran around the house a couple of times to make sure that my undergarments wouldn't, um, ride. Cassie ironed her shants (short pants) and prayed that God would give her "hinds feet in high places." We both prayed that the golf cart wouldn't come and pick us up for running too slow.

When we got to the race in the Imagination lot at Epcot, the adrenaline was pumping as loudly as the music. Some people were in full “Princess” costume. We were taking it all very seriously. Stretching, emptying our bladders, stretching some more.

At this point, our excitement level was at a 10. In fact, the words "OMGITSRACEDAY" became our go-to phrase and our twitter hashtag. We thought we might actually explode. It was close to the start time and they were herding us into the corral which were marked with paces. So we went to our appropriate pace slot. The gun sounded and we were READY!!!! Our family and friends were there with their Running Spuds Tshirts and signs. We felt like true rock stars.
Unfortunately we had never run with 5,000 people for and were not ready for how slow 5,000 people can go. I mean seriously!!! This is a race people. Move or get out of my way. But they wouldn’t, and I was getting angry. Amy, however, ditched around the orange cones and we never saw her again. Finally about ½ mile in the crowd thinned out and I was mortified to find out that some people were walking. What?!?! You are messing up my time! We were running though. And enjoying the beautiful Epcot scenery. Still however trying to bust through little walking groups who obviously had no idea the importance of this race to us Spuds. All the Disney people were there cheering us on including characters! Sorry, Mickey, I can’t take pics with you now, I got a finish line to cross. The most exciting part was the water station. I took that cup and tried to guzzle the water like in my daydream but was too hyped up and could only take a sip. I tried to crush the cup but it was the heavy duty plastic cups and didn’t really work but I threw it on the ground anyway.
OK…there it is the final ¼ mile. I pick up my pace and turn the corner and set my sights on the finish line. I felt like I was floating. And there it was the finish line and I was going to cross it running….not on a golf cart. I cried when I crossed it. Then when I saw Cassie cross it I cried harder because she was crying. And then it happened….Our names…over the LOUD SPEAKERS…”Congratulations to Cassie Jill and Amy our Running Spuds.”

It wasn’t Oprah but it was still pretty dang cool. Also, there was a lot less glitter than I had imangined and my poor mom had spent the entire race in the porta potty throwing up. But still it was definitely a fantastical experience. And you know what I learned, I don’t anyone to carry me on their shoulders and chant my name to feel completely and totally accomplished. I just need my Running Spud T shirt and my Running Spud Cassie. Thank you to my amazing Cousin Cassie for inspiring me and encouraging me and pushing me. This feeling I have at the finish line is because of you. Thanks for more laughs and better memories than I have ever have.

I need a nap.
Where’s the couch?