Quitters never win

Did you know that?

I figured it out last night.

We had our Five Star Races. Mom came down to see Anna Marie run - actually, she was AM's "target." It's her last year in the Toddler Races, and next year she'll be outside running 1/2 mile against bigger kids.

My baby!

Anyway, I'm glad they left right after her race. Because I wouldn't have wanted my daughter to be around to see how I did.

Let me explain the event I was entered in: a two-mile walk, all around a (very, very hilly) college campus. They couldn't find a straight stretch for us. No. There's even a perfectly good walking track right behind the coliseum where we started. That would be too easy.

And Lawd, was it hot. Did I mention the heat? Very important, that.

About 1/2 way through, I started getting some horrible cramps all through my torso. Like, I could barely walk horrible.

I stopped for a minute or so to see if the cramps subsided. They didn't. But I kept going anyway.

Then, the headache started. Again I stopped, and my legs felt like they were going to fall from under me.

Still, I kept going.

About 3/4 of the way through, I started feeling nauseas. I asked one of the course workers how much further and she thought about half a mile.

I couldn't do it, y'all. I went back to the starting/finish line, where Jason was waiting with my camera.

I thought I was going to pass out. I was over heated.

Never in my life have I felt so badly, both physically and psychologically. I almost started crying as I sat in the lobby, trying to drink some water.

My Weight Watchers leader, Carolyn, came in. (She, by the way, won the Grand Master, meaning she's the fastest old lady there! No kidding!) She told me that it was OK I didn't finish, especially if there was a chance I'd have ended up in the ER.

That would've been especially bad considering I'm one of the uninsured.

I called my mom and told her. I didn't want Anna Marie to be disappointed, but mom said she was happy because she FINALLY had stinky feet.

You read that right. She was excited about having stinky feet she could smell.

And no, she didn't win her race. That honor, of course, went to Peyton, her arch nemesis. And who will also be starting the same school as her in the fall, as she lives around the corner next door to her grandparents - her grandmother who is a kindergarten teacher at the school, and her grandfather who is a retired judge.

And did I mention her dad is the president of a bank branch in our county? And she's blonde? I see a "most popular girl in school" in the making.

Anyway. I'm not bitter.

I don't know what went wrong last night - I tried to drink plenty of water through the day, and I ate a turkey sandwich about two hours before the race. Last year I did so great, I even won a trophy for third place in my age group.

(Know who one first in my age group last year and this year? Peyton's mom! How's that for irony?)

Even this morning, my legs are weak. And that's after just a mile and a half!

Next year, though, will be different. I think. I'm going to train better, and maybe drink some water closer to race time.

And hopefully not get overheated and have to quit.