The Great Taco Run

After two months of arduous training (you know, a few trips out jogging each week), it was finally time for the highly anticipated Great Taco Run. I was very excited about this race, because while I am usually kind of nervous before races, I actually felt prepared this time. Thanks to my somewhat success two weeks earlier at the Tour des Fleurs and the fact that for the first time ever I actually made it to week 8 in my Couch-to-5k program, I was actually pretty confident and hopeful about how this race would turn out.

I prepped the night before by eating a bunch of tacos with my family (because it is called the Great Taco Run). Once I got home after dinner, I laid out my clothes for the next morning, along with all of the crap I'd need to bring with me (purse, race bib, granola bar, etc.), and actually got into bed pretty early. I tossed and turned for a long while before starting to finally drift off to sleep...

... and was shaken awake by an earthquake.

I'd never felt an earthquake before, so I was naturally very startled. It was all the more unsettling because I had been in that weird pre-sleep stage where I wasn't sure what had happened and thought I might be either under attack or insane (until I felt the after-shock, that is). But after that ordeal, it took me forever to fall asleep again.

As it turned out, the lack of sleep wasn't going to be my biggest problem during the race. The rain that morning proved to be a much bigger impediment. As Hannah, Jeff, Liz and I headed to the race, there were only a few sprinkles, but by the time we finished the 5k and were heading towards the post-race taco frenzy, it was raining much harder. It never poured down, but we were soaked through regardless. The rain itself didn't really bother me until my socks started to get wet - I cannot stand it when my feet get wet, except in very controlled situations (showers and swimming pools).

Unfortunately, the rain had slowed us down enough that by the time we made it to the post-race taco frenzy, they were almost entirely out of tacos. With only one booth still serving (that had a huge line and was just Taco Bueno) and both Hannah and I shivering because of how cold we were, we decided to leave and get a celebratory brunch. In keeping with the spirit of things, I ordered breakfast tacos.

Results:
Race time - 46:52

Because it was raining, I decided to leave my phone/camera in the car.
Instead, I thought I'd just steal this blurry picture off the internet of
two of the participants who were there dressed as tacos.

Running, revisited, and my plans to eat copious amounts of tacos

Good news everybody, I've started running again! And no, you aren't experiencing deja vu; I just make this claim frequently (such as here and here).

After the Hot Chocolate Run, I kind of stopped my running regimen. Granted, I still did 3 races after that (The Color Run, the Firefly Run, and the Warrior Dash (which I promise I will recap some day)), but each with less and less training (and less and less success). In fact, until last night, I had only even attempted to go running thrice since April. My first attempt, which was in May, was actually moderately successful. I tired out, but I didn't give up. Also, I got to explore the neighborhood near my then-new apartment! My second attempt, during the heat of the day in June, resulted in me just walking the entire path and almost passing out from dehydration (well, dehydration and being a drama queen). My third attempt was somehow even less successful, in that I didn't even make it out the front door (I'm trying to set a record for the most links to other equally uninteresting blog posts). And that was that. I was done with running. It was too hot outside and I was far too lazy to keep it up.

Earlier this week, however, I got an e-mail about an upcoming 5k, and while that one looked really boring and just all around awful (why would you have a race that celebrates how ridiculously hot it is outside?), it got me thinking about other 5ks that might be coming up. Finally, after some light googling, I came across one that was too alluring to pass up: the Great Taco Run.

I think their logo could only be better if the taco were
sweating hot sauce.

Just in time for National Taco Day (which I guess is a thing), the Great Taco Run takes place at the end of September. This should give me enough time to reboot my Couch-to-5k program so that I will have a fighting chance of not embarrassing myself. I mean, not embarrassing myself with how poorly I run. I do, however, plan on embarrassing myself with how many tacos (as prepared by a slew of local vendors) I will eat immediately after the race. 9am is the perfect time for tacos, right? Wrong. Every time is the perfect time for tacos.

Anyhoo, on Tuesday, I realized that with the race a mere 7.5 weeks away, it was time to get crackin'. I needed a plan. The Couch-to-5k program is supposed to last 8 weeks, so it wouldn't be that far off target. However, I am going to be out of town and unable to run at all for a few days this week, so I needed to stream line the process. In order to figure this out, I was going to need ingenuity, cunning, and most importantly, ORGANIZATION!

If Twilight Sparkle, inept at everything non-magic as she is,
was able to save the Winter Wrap-Up with nothing more than
a clipboard and her checklist, surely I could figure out a way
to cram an 8 week training program into 6.5 weeks, right?

I grabbed a calendar and starting marking down all the training runs I planned on doing in the next two months. The resulting schedule showed me finishing up the program about a week before the Great Taco Run. The secret to how I was able to trim off so much time? Skipping integral parts entirely. I started the program last night with the designated Week 2 - Day 1 run, bypassing Week 1 altogether, because it's what a rebel does.

Self portrait, basically.

The run itself went well. Although it only involved 2 minutes of running at a time, I was still somewhat challenged after not running for so long. It would have been disheartening, except that when I thought back to where I was about a year and a half ago, when I had barely run at all ever, I was able to see how much I've improved. Before, I wouldn't have been able to run those two minutes without gasping for air, clutching my sides, and giving up (with an extra serving of giving up). Also, because I accidentally got caught up in some TV shows for too long after work yesterday, I happened to not go running until it was already cool and nice outside. It was a win-win!

I've planned to do my Week 2-Day 2 run tonight after my kickboxing class, so let's hope my legs still function afterwards.

Does anyone want to take bets on how many tacos my friends and I will eat? Since it'll be in the morning, do you think they'll have breakfast tacos? Isn't it weird that this will be the first 5k I've signed up for without Maddy (who moved out of state a month or so ago)? Do you like how I felt it necessary to link to the same previous blog post in two separate locations?