So last weekend I was looking for a race for June (I ran in May, I just haven’t written about it yet). There was a women-only run on Saturday but no other races. Luckily I found a race on Sunday. It was not a standard race. For one thing it was only one mile. For another, it was on hippity hops. If you’re not familiar with hippity hops, you’re not alone. I had no idea what they were, but it sounded fun. Turns it a hippity hop is like a yoga ball with a handle. You sit on it and bounce your way along the mile course. Despite how fun this sounds, it must be pointed out that this was the hardest one mile race I’ve ever done. It took me just under 21 minutes and I was sore for a few days afterwards. The event took place in Julia Davis park as part of a day of fun and fund raising for Girls on the Run. I read about it and saw the World’s Record for a mile on hippity hop was 13 minutes. Thinking it was a good cause and that a 13 minute mile is pretty slow, I decided to try it. I showed up early and did a few practice hops before the race. It felt fine, but not like I knew what I was doing. When we lined up for the start, I sae just how small this event was. There were about 20 racers. The race started and I was out with the fast pack, but after about eight to ten bounces, the leaders were already pulling away from me. As fast as I tried to hop, there was no keeping up with them. After a quarter of a mile, I came to the first water stop and paused to let my arms relax. I had assumed that my legs would get the workout, but my arms and back did most of the work moving the hippity hop. I managed to hold on to fifth place through the first three-quarters of a mile, even when I fell off the back of the hippity hop (twice). In the last quarter of a mile, there was a slight up hill and I couldn’t get the hop up it. I kept hopping up but couldn’t go forward. At this point, one more person passed me and I finished in sixth place overall. Although I didn’t do it, one of the racers did set a new World’s Record with a time of 12:09. I felt glad to finish and later heard that about half the field dropped out. It was a ridiculous event and I was sore for three days after, but I’m looking forward to next year. My goals for that are to finish faster and maybe even try hopping before race day.