Well I survived! Yesterday morning was my race and while it didn't go 100% the way I wanted it to I was still proud of the race I ran. I felt like I ran a smart race and did the best I could which is all I can really ask for. And I wasn't last! I think there were only maybe 5 people behind me but I made sure I wasn't last and really I found out I didn't actually care about being last as much as I thought I would because I knew I was running the race for me and no one else.
Here's how it went.
To start off I woke up at 2am and couldn't sleep. I was really nervous the night before so I didn't get the sleep I wanted. I tossed and turned and finally got out of bed at 4:45am. I got up and got dressed in my race gear, I had picked out my clothes the night before, and made breakfast. I went with 2 slices of German Dark Wheat with peanut butter and a banana on top. I wasn't digging it and only ate 1 slice partially because my nerves were getting to me and partially because I didn't want to eat too much before the race.
After I ate I left the house with my gear and directions. I brought some snacks along to for after the race in case I needed something on the drive home. The drive was quite pleasant and went by really fast. I got lost once but eventually found my way to the registration area. I got my number and free shirt and headed back to my car.
By that time I was still about an hour early and it slowly started to get more hot and more humid. The weather forecast was for 92 with 57% humidity. I felt like I was in a rain forest. It was hot. And being hot and an hour early made me more nervous as I was sitting around waiting for the start. I ended up texting Paul that I was nervous and he calmed me down before the race. He couldn't make it to see me and I was almost happy I just went to do it alone for my first one. That being said I suddenly realized I had no idea what to do with my car keys. I didn't have pockets that zipped or closed in any way. Problem solved. I ended up safety pinning them in my shorts pocket. Worked great!
By the time it was about 8am I still had 30 minutes to go and I was getting sick to my stomach. I was intimidated by the other runners I saw and when the men's cross country team showed up, they ran to the race tent, I felt like throwing up. But next to the field where we all had parked there was a stretch of paved road so I decided to walk it out on the road and jog a little to get my muscles moving.
Before I knew it we were lining up at the start. They had runners in the front and walkers in the back. I knew I'd be jogging it so I decided to hang back nearest to the walkers. There were a few announcements from the local police on minding traffic, they played the national anthem, and then immediately after it was done, BOOM! We were off.
The first .5 of the race was really not so bad. It started with a slight incline before we made our first turn and then a nice gently downhill slope into a pretty park and ball field. Believe it or not there were at least two dozen registered runners who already switched to a walk in the first half mile. I passed them and I just kept going at my pace and felt good. I looked at my watch and noticed I went out a little too fast for me so I pulled it back a little and slowed because I knew I needed to keep pace to make it the full distance. As we got close to the ball field the first real hill approached. It was a steep decline so I just kept my pace and even slowed up a little so I didn't slip. And then came the uphill. For the next .5 it was uphill. Seriously uphill but I pushed through it and passed the first mile marker at 12:53.
I continued fighting up the hill because it didn't stop until 1.25 and I tried to concentrate on my breath and pace but by 1.5 my legs started to fatigue and I had to stop. I felt utter disappointment with myself knowing that 13 minutes into my race I had already failed at my first and only goal I wanted to accomplish. I felt miserable.
I tried my best to snap myself out of my funk and grabbed a water from the boy scout troop at 1.5. I jogged around the next corner into a housing neighborhood and made a decision that walking for a few shorts seconds doesn't mean all is lost until I saw the next hill. It was a gain of 121 feet. I knew it was coming around this time because I had looked up the elevation online. It was a short steep climb and I knew I was going to have to dig deep to get up that one. I push through and powered up the hill running up to the top. But by the top around 1.85 my legs were getting tired and I slowed to a walk on the flat. As I rounded the next street I hit mile 2 and at mile 2 it was the first time I seriously started to question whether I could finish the race or not. I knew I could finish it but I didn't know if I had any run left in me.
One of the interesting things about this race too was there wasn't really a "middle of the pack". There seemed to be very quick runners who finished in 18 minutes and there seemed to be people who finished in 50 minutes or more but in the middle around 30-40 minute finishers there were only a few of us so the race got intense because all the sudden you're out on the street alone. I felt terrible and mortified as I was on the street alone thinking I might actually finish last. I didn't realize till I finished that there were plenty of people behind me. It was hard being on the road alone. They had volunteers on the road but they were less than enthusiastic when only one or two people came running by instead of a dozen so in my "middle of the pack" it got mentally challenging.
There was a woman ahead of me by maybe three tenths who I kept an eye on and kept challenging myself to catch her. I never did but it helped me get through. There was also a girl in red who I had passed earlier on who I was determined to not let her catch me even if I walked.
Pretty soon I rounded the final turn and met the volunteer with a pretty smile who said, "Only a half mile left!" And then I saw it. The final half mile of the race was an uphill climb. A gain of 145 feet. It was a monster. You could actually see the finish line but to see it you had to look up. My stomach dropped and I just concentrated on crossing the finish line. I walked up the steepest part and ran the last section to the finish line.
I looked at the timer at the finish and it read 43:56. My Garmin said 44:15.
As I made my way down the chute I tried to think about what I had just accomplished. I was proud of myself but at the same time I felt I just wasn't prepared for the hills and knew I could have done better. The heat was difficult to deal with and I knew at that moment I had my work cut out for me for the next race. I tried to end on a positive note though and remembered a year ago I ran a race in NYC and finished in 46:46. Realizing that I had improved on that time made me smile. I enjoyed the festivities they had for a while grabbing a vitamin water, water, pretzel, oranges, and a couple of free coupons. After I had walked a little and cooled down slightly I made my way back to the car and packed up for home.
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