running

this last saturday (march 26, 2011) a few co-workers and I ran the antelope island buffalo run, which is a 25 k. which is 15.5 miles. yes, 15.5 miles. first of all this whole thing was not my idea, i caved into peer pressure. i have never liked running, ever, even though i have played soccer all of my life it was not the same as just running for miles at a time. but i have some crazy fit people at my work that sign up for this kind of thing allll the time, so when they did, they asked if i wanted to do it. i hesitated (i could barely run 3 miles at the time) and then brandon (co-workers) some something along of lines of dont be a pansie. I, Sarah Lorraine Cray, am a lot of things, but not a pansie. So i accepted this challenge with full confidence that i would kick this runs butt and at the same time show how hardcore i am to my fellow friends. If for future reference you decided to do a race/run of any kind let me give you a little advice:
1. train and train hard. i did have a training schedule, but i would take weeks off at a time, and when it came down to it i only ran 6 miles at a time before the 25k. Thats not even half! needless to say i was not prepared.
2. make sure you check out an elevation map, and that you understand what it is saying. Here is the map of my race:

now when i saw this before my race the irrational part of my brain thought "ah there is no way it is that steep, it has to be really gradual, i got it." wrong. it was exactly how it is pictured. it was that steep, in one word: death.
3. have someone to run with. and make sure they dont flake out on you (cough michael cough)
So i know that i should probably say "oh it wasnt that bad" and "it was fun" no that would straight up be a lie. I am going to be honest here, when i was doing it i was so pissed that i signed up for it. i told myself that i would never ever ever do something like this again, and i have never been in so much physical pain in my life. ever. half way through i wasnt even concerned about running the whole time (which i didnt) or my time, i was just focusing on not passing out and putting one foot in front of the other.
Now here comes the crazy part. Even after all of that, and all the things i told myself, 2 days later i signed up for 2 more half marathons. After i finished, the next day all i could think about was going running again! i am now addicted. and i dont get it. but i have a feeling that this new terrible thing is going to now be apart of my life.