The Epic Saga Continued

The Start

The wake-up call startled me out of sleep at 4:10am. It was easy to get dressed as I had left everything by the side of the bed. Felt sort-of like a fireman, really. Just had to jump right in.

I had told my family not to meet me in the lobby and it was the right decision. I was really pretty nervous in that funny way that I get sometimes. Can't sit still. Can't stop talking. Irritable. You get the picture.

PC came down with me mostly because I needed his wallet! Breakfast was available for purchase and I had no intention of running with a bunch of change in my Batman belt. Half a bagel, Gatorade, and a banana was the perfect way to start the day.

We were all just milling about and I'm not certain if that was a good way to get rid of the nervous energy or it just created more of it. Check out all the reflective material in the lobby!

The hotel was just a couple of blocks from the starting line so it made sense to walk and use that as a brief warm-up. We got to the start area and it was a little chaotic. Since we knew that our pace was pretty slow, Team Tortoise had elected to do the early start. I am so very grateful that we did -- and for several reasons. First of all, had we done the 7am start, it would have taken us about 30 minutes to actually cross the start line.




Do you see how far back we would have been?? We would have been in that grey area towards the back and would have missed the inspirational stuff leading up to the actual start. I'll address some of the other benefits of the early start at a later point.

Anyway, we hung out a bit and then one of the other girls & I went to check in our bags. Gave me a last chance to whip out my Body Glide and prevent chaffing. Rule of thumb: any place than can chafe will chafe!

Only TNT (Team-in-Training) participants had the option of the early start. So imagine a huge sea of purple...

Carol Lewis, Hall-of-Famer and Olympic Long-Jumper, was the emcee at the start line and she really got us pumped up. She called out all the TNT teams by chapter and then we counted down together.

Next up: The Miles