Today when my alarm went off, I first thought that maybe I just dreamed that the Ivory Cat closed down. I then remembered that it was true. Then I considered what the repercussions would be if I didn't show up to the race. I figured I could just say "Yeah, didn't you see me? That girl in pink? Yeah, that was me and man was I working up a sweat!" But then I realized that I needed to fulfill my end of the deal, so that is how I found myself shuffling down Colorado at 9 AM today.
I remember jogging by the Marq and thinking briefly "Wouldn't it be nice if Brad Womack was standing shirtless in the window shadow dancing?" Then I remember shuffling past 4th Street and saying to Singing Banana that "the Austin economy took a massive hit this weekend, with the Ivory Cat closing down and me not going out last night since I had to get up early."
We finally made it across the finish line and I'd just like to say that I did finish in less than two hours, which automatically makes it better than the half marathon I did in 2001 (one spine injury and several vodka sodas ago). Singing Banana and I felt a brief euphoria after finishing and I remember she said "I'm going to keep running these!"

We actually manged to find the rest of our "team" since we'd all agreed to meet by the first aid tent. I also found my Aunt Stella, who is a breast cancer survivor. She usually participates in the race but she got back from a three-week trip to Tokyo a few days ago so she was dragging. But she was handing out bottles of water at the finish line and cheering people on.

I'd really like to write more but A) I'm too sad about the Ivory Cat (I feel like someone died) and b) I'm too tired and have a wonderful nap that I'm late for. If you want to see the rest of my race pictures, click here.