The 4:30 alarm came earlier than expected, especially with the late night before.  I’m not a coffee drinker, but I drove down the street to the only open place to get a cup to wake myself up.  I got to working in Dan’s home office.  Luckily I had everything I needed from everyone at work (turned out they were all busy too, so it worked out we did this Friday night/Saturday morning).  I was able to get the report to my boss at 6:45!  Had just enough time to make sure Michele was fed and dressed.  I tossed the laptop into the car, just in case, and we took off for the race.

We met my sister, mom, and the other girls at the course about an hour before.  Just as I predicted, everything was unorganized.  At least the shuttle part worked well for the early waves, which was our case.

We were in the 9 am wave.  When we registered that was the earliest wave, before they opened registration back up and kept adding more people, grrr!  We jumped into the corral as soon as they’d let us.  I didn’t want to be in the back of over 300 girls (there were 10 waves, 15 mins apart, over 3000 women total).  Met a girl at the start who was really nice, some of our non-runner friends were teasing her because she was alone.  (I often attend races alone, if I didn’t, i’d probably never do anything!).  I made the remark to her and the other girls that they shouldn’t tease her, because she was probably going to smoke them.  (which she did).  Here is a photo of the start.  That’s all of us in neon pink (can’t see me, i’m the last one in our group).  Said fast-girl  is already like 50 yards ahead and stayed that way.

I separated myself from the group almost immediately.  I knew that not everyone was going to finish together or even stay together. 

I wasn’t really sure about strategy.  Was I supposed to have one?  I held behind the lead pack during the first run, because I wasn’t really sure.  After the first obstacle (balance on ropes), I passed a bunch of girls.  I ended up right behind superfast girl who won our wave.

In addition to the balance rope, there was a ball pit with giant balls people rolled at you, a maze, a really long tire course, a rope wall, and the series of water trampolines you had to navigate.

There were 2 waves before us, so there were still some gals on the course from the earlier waves.  Especially at the last obstacle, which was the water trampolines.  I had to wait 3 minutes to even attempt that portion, which was super annoying (there were only 2 sets of that obstacle).  At any point, you could take a time penalty if you wanted to skip something.  I should have skipped that one and took the penalty.  Even when I got on the trampolines, I had to wait for the girl in front of me to finish, which was forever. 

I finished in 27-ish minutes (gun time).  It wasn’t chip timed.  The method for their timing was annoying and they didn’t track the people who took time penalties really at all.  They didn’t write down your time until you’d gone through the zig-zagged corral behind the mass of girls in front of you.  Not very accurate or organized at all.  Super-fast girl finished about 75 yards in front of me.  (come to find out later, she’s quite the athlete, placed in the top 10 in the marathon and won Warrior Dash central Tx, my friend Megan knows her!)

Alison and her coworker and sister finished about 20 minutes after me.  Too cute.  Everyone finished in 1 piece, although Michele twisted her ankle on 1 obstacle (may be sprained).

Here is our group, plus our friend Erin and one of her friends (non-pinks).

Another group shot…

My sister, Michele, and I, being ourselves after the race!

Not sure how a race with so many flipping sponsors and put on by a major fitness magazine had such weak packets (just an old magazine, socks, and a cinch bag) and post-race refreshment (beer, Luna bars, water, Honest T and food you had to buy).  We were all STARVING when we got to Kerbey Lane in South Austin and the wait for 10 people took way longer than it should have   My food was totally worth it though.  I had the Nabil’s mid-east feast.

We then went to our nearest gym locations (yay for chains) and then met up for pedicures.  I hadn’t had one since last summer.  I have a rule that I don’t get them while training, unless it’s a special occasion (like being in a wedding).  I need my feet tough for the hot and humid races and training.  Since I am not training for anything, I figured we could all use the treat!

It was the perfect ending to Diva Day   All in all, it was a good time.  The most important part was having fun with the girls, which was accomplished.  Plus my 2 BBFs met and loved each other.  I’ve come to realize with my last few events, that even if the race isn’t what you expected, sometimes the company makes it completely worth the while!