2012 Believe in Tomorrow Port to Fort 6K

Sunday.  What a wonderful day.  There has been much lead-up to the Believe in Tomorrow Port to Fort 6K.  I've pestered my Facebook friends to the point that I'm sure I was blocked by some of my outer circle friends.  I harassed emailed every person that came to mind over at American Amalgamated Corrugated Conglomerates of America for a donation.  Fortunately, most of them are very kind and willing to support us.  Having reversed the situation, I certainly would help them.

Sunday began with an early riser, quick shower, quick breakfast, while I concurrently did a quick status check on Facebook.  (I need to know what people did between 10pm last night and this morning!!!).  We got our stuff together and jumped in the car.  We were on the road by 7:15am.

We arrived at the Domino Sugar Plant to park just shy of 8am.  A quick unpack and we head over to the Museum of Industry to find our team.  It wasn't hard to find them.  4 million people wearing super bright pink t-shirts.  That was just our team.  The area quickly filled up with this year's participants.  And it was a gorgeous day for a race. It was about 50 degrees and sunny, which for running is PERFECT.   And it got warmer as the day wore on.

This year's race was being recorded with a chip, so it didn't matter if it took you 2 minutes to cross the start-line.  However, after last year's race, I had no desire to be any farther back than necessary.  I didn't want to get trampled by the dedicated monster runners.  Nor did I want to be behind the mad-mom strollers, walkers, and sightseers.

Finally the start gun was heard and we were off.  I was with a few friends and we agreed to run together.  After the first bend in the road I looked over my shoulder and there was no sight of my friends.  I was running at a decent pace, not sure what it was.  I finally hit the first mile-marker at 8:11.  Holy tax-increases, Batman!  I continued along.  A few people started passing me, so I figured I was slowing down.  I hit the 2 mile-marker - 16:22.  Holy-unbalanced budget, Martin O'Malley!  I am still running at the same pace.

I finally pass the water table.  There's a crowd of people around it.  I heard some advice from a friend once.  Avoid the water table if you can.  Then I figured, this is only 3.8 miles, I can run that without water.  It's not like I'm running a marathon.

Mile-marker 3 - I'm at 24:55.  Okay, I'm slowing down a little bit, but still a fantastic pace!  I'm climbing a hill.  It seems to last forever and it's getting more painful, sort of like a Martin O'Malley term in office. 

An old cougar passes me.  "It's all downhill from here!", she growls.

I look up.  It's still uphill for as far as I can see.  "Downhill from where???", I ask her.

"Around the next bend", she says.  We turn the next corner.  More uphill.

"I thought you said it was downhill after this corner."

"It's coming soon!  Trust me.  I ran this course on Thursday!"  We turn the next corner.  More uphill.  She's obviously a staff member for Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, because she's full of it.

But alas, the next turn and we're FINALLY going downhill again.  I pick up the pace.  Use the downhills to your advantage.  I'm practically sprinting at this point.  Finally we're back on Key Highway.  I'm not wearing headphones, so I can hear myself breathing.  I realize what a loud breather I am when I run.  If you thought you heard dying bear run by you on Sunday, that was probably me.  And slobber?  Holy mad cow.  As heavy as I was breathing, there was an equivalent amount of liquid me flying all over the place.  If you thought a quick rain storm passed you, I do apologize. 

I'm running as hard as I can, but it's not that fast at this point.  But I finally crossed the finish line.  I had no idea what my time was.  I learn on Monday that I ran just over 30 minutes!  You can't imagine how psyched I am.  I haven't been this thrilled since Nancy Pelosi was removed as Madam Speaker.

A few minutes later my friends trample in behind me.  My friend's husband runs in with a stroller.  "Hey, Virus!  I think I beat you."  "I don't think so."  Wow.  I have no delusions that I am faster than this guy, but I'm pretty certain that I beat him in this particular race.  Come to find out, his chip time was better than mine, but my clock time was better than his.  So whatever.  He need not feel threatened by me.  I'm giggling like a little girl picturing him like Beavis with his shirt over his head saying, "Are you threatening me?!!!"

My oldest daughter comes in next.  She ran it in about 34 minutes.  Not bad for a 12 year old!  Then my 10 year old son comes in - 36 minutes.  Awesome!  He didn't even have running shoes on

Master of Ceremonies: WBFF Fox 45's Candace Dold:

The race finally concludes and they gather everyone for the awards ceremony.  I knew our team won the award for most money raised.  We were ahead by $9,000.  I was fairly certain that we won the award for the largest team, but Sarah's Brew Crew was close behind us.  We did beat them for largest team.  Then, my son placed in the top 3 for his division.  I'm so proud of him!!! He even wore his medal to school the next day.

All in all it was a great day.  We raised a lot of money and brought a lot of awareness to people about Believe in Tomorrow.  I'm sure there were other teams out there that were giving us the evil eye and watching us during the fundraising campaign wishing they could beat us.  But it's not about the competition (though I am proud of our accomplishments).  If someone else could raise more money or get more participants than us, I think that would be wonderful.  It's all for a great cause.

We look forward to being there again next year.  Will you be there next year?