Bix7 Complete!

I did it!

I ran all 7 miles of the Bix.  I had to stop to pee so my time was under 72 minutes instead of the 70 I was hoping for, but I am just so happy that I finished.  So many did not.  We were under yellow flag running conditions which means moderate (risky conditions; proceed with caution).

I raced with 15,000 other people.  Definitely the largest race I ever want to run.  There wasn't much room to move around.  But now I can say I ran a race with Joan Benoit Samuelson.  She is pretty amazing (1984 gold metal Olympic Marathoner.)

Can you see me in this photo?

I cropped it and zoomed in on me.

I'm running down Brady Street hill with about a 1/2 mile to go.

It was hot and I am a bit sunburned but feeling pretty good.  Just a bit tired.

   

This is Andrew Bridgewater (my sister's friend from college) and me.  He ran the race 20 minutes faster that me, but in this photo I am winning!!!

My next race is the 1/2 Marathon in Nashville on September 24th.  I will have to run 6 miles farther than I did today.

Bix 7

There are a few things that are institutions in the Quad Cities.  One of them is the Bix.  Always held in the hottest of conditions the Bix is a jazz music festival and race.  The festival is in honor of Bix Biderbecke, a cornet player and jazz pioneer in the 1920 born in Davenport, IA.  It is a weekend full of wonderful music, street food and running.  The Bix 7  is a pretty big deal.  It is a 7 mile race.  One that goes straight up Brady Street hill.  The top male and female runner win a car, if I remember correctly. Or at least they used to win a car.  It is probably purse money now.  Last year I watch Ryan Hall (currently the best male marathon runner for the US) win it.  It was amazing to watch.  This year I am running.

Am I crazy?  Yes, yes I am.  Crazy for running and crazy about running. I signed up for cross country my freshman year of high school.  Why?  I really did not want to play volleyball and I knew I could run having completed 2 years of junior high track and several bouts of the "Eagle Marathon" (a two-mile race at my elementary school.  In sixth grade, I was the overall female winner.)  So I started to run.  And I was pretty good.  I was a varsity runner all 4 years of high school.  I was also varsity track all 4 years.  Running was not always fun.  I always seemed to have shin splints and my stomach never seemed to like running.  My running days have always been marked with vomit and bathroom breaks. 

My running stopped 10 years ago.  My senior year of track left me hurt and exhausted.  I never wanted to run again.  I really gave up running for many years.  Throughout college and my graduate school work, I never gave running a second thought.  After my daughter was born in 2008, I was in so much pain just walking I never thought to run. Then when my daughter was about a year old, a friend of a friend started running.  She then inspired my friend to start running which inspired me.  So in October of 2009 I ran my first 5k in years.  I used the C25K program (couch to 5k) and highly recommend it. Shortly after that 5k we ended up moving and I tried to keep up my running but I did not.  I still ran here and there but not regularly.  Then with the stress of trying to sell our house and my husband being unemployed for months, I needed to run.  

Now, I run a lot and I identify myself as a runner.  It was just dormant in me all along.  I would have to give full credit for me running to that friend of a friend, now my friend too and my friend for continuing to run.  It is the best kind of peer pressure.  Now we are all signed up to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) in Nashville this September.  

This summer I have run several races, but none as long as the Bix7.  I am nervous in a good way.  I am excited to prove to myself and family that I can do it. 

I run because they run.  I run because I want to beat them.  I run because of my competitive nature.  I run because I am alone in my thoughts.  I run because I can.  I run because you are not.  I run to run.  It makes me crazy and I like it that way.

Lists

I make lists.  It is how I get things done.  Without lists I would not know what to do next.  I just think so much and I can't turn my brain off so I survive by making lists.

I have several on-going to-do lists at work.  I have a long range list, a monthly list and a weekly list.  Sometimes I even have daily to-do lists or post-its. (I never realized how beneficial post-its were before becoming a librarian.) Yesterday, I completed my to do for the week list and several things off of the monthly list.  It was pretty amazing considering I was not feeling the greatest and that the list was pretty daunting. 

Last night, I made a near impossible to-do list.  It required me to get my car's oil changed, repair jewelry, sweep, vacuum, put away a lot of clothes, got to the library, do mounds of dishes and various other things.  It seemed overwhelming.  As I started to do and complete each task, I realized that it was do-able.  I in fact finished with everything by 9:15 and then continued to go lay in bed and look at my new knitting books for the library.  I am so happy.  My house is mostly clean, things I had been putting off for weeks (or months)  I finally got done.  I was also very blessed to have my husband watch my daughter while I accomplished most of my tasks.  I did have her along for the oil change; that was an adventure.

In both cases, I found that I have wasted more time thinking about how I have not got around to doing something then actually doing the thing.  Like blogging.  I set this blog up years ago with the hopes of blogging about great things in my life.  Instead, I thought about blogging but never got around to do it.  So here's hoping to doing and not thinking.