Cowtown Craziness!

When I signed up for the Cowtown 5K I knew it was big, but that is a total understatement!!!! I should have expected it knowing that there was a marathon, half-marathon, 10k and 2 5k's, but I guess I haven't been to enough races to get a clear picture. Well, I can't say that anymore! I left the house this morning at 6:30 to meet my cousins, Kelli and Jay at La Grave field in Ft. Worth by 7:30. I was sure that would be plenty of time to get there and catch the shuttle over to the starting line. HA! First of all, the route that the GPS navigated out didn't take into consideration all of the closed streets. Nor was there a listing in the info packet about how to get through town without going in circles! I have to admit, the Lord was testing my patience today as I continued to pass garage after garage that had signs that read "garage full"!
I have to say, I did a LOT of praying while I was at a complete loss of what to do. Finally I stumbled upon the street that Kelli told me I needed to be on and headed for the shuttle parking, again! As I got closer, the shuttle pulled into the parking lot, but I was stuck about 1 mile away because the marathon runners were passing by. Kelli began to tell the shuttle driver how ridiculous all of the traffic was and how poorly planned the whole thing was:) He announced that the race had been delayed, but didn't know for how long. She told him that there was no way that he could leave without me, I was just around the corner. Though I had to sit and wait for 5 minutes, she somehow managed to stall the bus driver. I parked and then sprinted to the shuttle about 1/4 of a mile (wasn't really looking for a warm-up!). I passed tons of people, but as soon as I got on he shut the door and we took off! I don't know what happened to those poor people I passed:/ The driver was funny, as I thanked him for waiting and responded that he didn't think he had a choice. He was pretty sure Kelli was going to throw herself in front of the bus!
It was a wild ride to the start, as the bus whipped around corners. Luckily we were dropped off only 1 block from the start. We walked up during the National Anthem, which I will admit, we walked right through, I know, so rude! We got there with 3 minutes to spare!
There were SO many people running, once they started the race, it took us about 4 minutes to get to the starting line! The whole time we were having to dodge people and squeeze between walkers and runners. I'm not sure if I really ever felt like I got "in my groove" just because I was continuously swerving through everyone.
This was only my 3rd race, but it was definitely the most challenging. The other races that I have done had no hills or inclines. This was much different. If I had known before hand, I would have been very intimidated! As we were running, I continually looked ahead to see what was coming and I was very nervous about the hills as they approached. However, once I got there, they weren't near as hard as I thought they would be. Again, I did lots of praying! (Me and God, we are tight today!)
I finished my race with my fastest time yet....31:46! I know I have a long way to go, but I have improved by 6 minutes each time I have run! For me that is an accomplishment I can be proud of! I am continuing to train and hopefully I will be able to upgrade to a 10K by the fall:) Thanks Kelli and Jay for being my running buddies! What great memories we are making! Love you guys!