Becoming a "Blade Runner": My Journey: Back with the Blade Runners: Terrapin 5K

I've only done one other 5K with the Chicago Blade Runners, and was a little nervous going into this one. After completing several 5K's I have developed somewhat of a routine starting the night before a race. My bag is packed, my "pre-race pb&j" is ready and my bib is pinned. When I arrive at the race area, I find a spot near gear check where I am a little distance from the crowd to switch legs and mentally prepare. My running buddy, Erick is pretty familiar with my routine and usually helps me to find a quiet area for me to do all of this. For this race, however; the pre-race routine was a little different. We were stationed at a tent with about 40 Blade Runners and Guides, in the middle of a crowd of a few thousand people. I would just like to note that Erick's daughters, Abby and Lex, found a nice little spot by the tent where they sat calmly watching a movie on his phone (Talk about totally unaffected by the chaos around them :P)

This race benefited the Chicago Blade Runners, which basically made us VIPs. We got to start before the other runners in a corral just for us. There were so many people shouting words of encouragement and of course telling us how amazing and inspirational we all were. As always, I thanked them with a smile before rolling my eyes :)

I ran with Erick and Tom, my new prosthetist from Scotland. We had a great time running, walking and learning about the differences in Scottish lingo. I learned that they call Americans "Yanks" and women "lassies." I was a bit exhausted from a long day at practicum, and walked a bit more than I had expected for this race, but (in the words of Tom) it was truly "nay bother" to him or Erick.

After finishing Erick, Lex, Abby and I quickly ducked out and headed to a local pizza place where we ate "Pizza Won-Tons" and a deep dish. Overall, its was a really fun race and night with some awesome people!