My last post was a bit negative and I have to move on.
I can't be mad about the cake anymore, I mean, he got one, right?
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Have I told you about Talisman's Contest? I haven't? Shame on me. Tali over at Misadventures of a Modern Day Alchemist is hosting a little contest. In fact, I think it's the most creative contest ever and I think you need to enter. Go here for all the rules (part 2 has started but you still have plenty of opportunities to win!)
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Anyway, I've been thinking about starting to run again but I need some motivation because these pesky pounds are piling on and I need to do something.
My SIL Ali and I have decided that we are going to run a 10K in September but just setting the goal hasn't gotten my hand out of the cookie jar or my ass off the couch.
So, I thought I would re-run one of my previous posts where I recounted my first 5K experience since most of my readers were not reading at that time.
Originally this post was shared in two parts found
here and
here.
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What follows is the sordid saga of my first 5K race, the Salmon Days Rotary Run in Issaquah WA, on October 7th.
I thought about titling it, "How I learned to stop worrying and love the 5K", but I actually fell asleep during that movie, and so probably shouldn't attempt to cheekily reference it.
But I was worried about it.
We'll start with the fact that I just finished the C25K a few weeks ago, and ran a full 5K distance a grand total of zero times. I did, however, sneak a run in on Thursday evening sans babies and kept a 10 minute pace. After that I was confident that I could finish with a sub-35:00 on my first race.
…That is, until it hit me, I have never even run the entire distance of the race, couple that, with my competitive spirit, and I was sure I would die from exhaustion before mile marker 1.
I love me some tests, which, I suppose, is the real reason I set goals, because what would be the point of running if there weren’t a test to follow? But, tests make me nervous, the kind of nervous that makes you never want to be more than a few feet from a toilet.When I get nervous, I usually eat, Friday night was no different. My nerves had already started in so I headed to find comfort in some pizza, then I found my way to some popcorn, and I couldn’t just stop there, could I? No. I found me some frozen cookie dough.
What followed was some serious pain, cramping and hours of misery. So much misery Bob prayed my stomach would cooperate by Sunday because, he said, if I had an accident while racing he would not claim me at the finish line. What happened to those vows people?
I made it to Sunday morning in one piece, worse for wear, but feeling pretty strong, sans breakfast and most likely not needing a toilet for the next 12 years.
I finally made it to the race, and if you have never participated in one, I highly recommend it. There is an amazing energy surrounding the whole event, excitement mixed with nerves mixed with people doing really great things for themselves. To say it was empowering is an understatement.
After posing for pictures, pinning on our bibs, tying on ours chips, making sure we didn’t have to use the potty and basically after as much procrastination as possible, Ali and I joined the starting crowd. She was confident we were “middle of the packers”, and I believed her, I just didn’t agree with her where exactly the “middle of the pack” was. We finally agreed to start next to some people who seemed slower than us, I assured her passing people is more empowering than being passed, she agreed.
I took a deep breath, realizing this was only the beginning - I had to actually finish this race for it to mean anything. I started to get claustrophobic when the announcer told us there were 1600 competitors at today’s race, I looked forward and backward and all I could see for a quarter of a mile were people, lots and lots of people. I wanted out…
There I was with only one way out of this mess, run, the faster I go the sooner I could get away from all these people.
A person counts down and yells "START!" (Honestly I went when the people in front of me started, I don’t know exactly what the front of the line heard), and we were off, runners pouring out onto the road ahead. As I started running, my thoughts kept flipping between, "I feel great! This is fun! Faster! I like running! I can get used to this! Faster!" to "Oh my god, what was I thinking, I'm not going to make it, I'm going to get trounced by kids less than half my age, and marathoners over three times my age, and DIE."
But I kept going, tried to find my groove, and finally checked out the runners around me. Apparently, at my pace, I was surrounded by... people who appeared to be a lot less taxed than me. The ladies just ahead of me were holding an entire conversation while I was huffing and puffing my way through this thing.
I look ahead, and I see the water station and the one mile mark. The guy was calling out the time every two seconds. "Nine forty-eight. Nine fifty. Nine fifty-two..."
...Wait, what? I did a complete double-take and had to think hard for a few seconds to make sure that I'd parsed his sentence correctly. I'd actually hit the one mile mark in under 10 min? Was he bloody kidding me? I expected the first mile to be slow, and 9:52... Wasn’t slow.
I did a quick self-assessment to determine if I started out too fast and needed to slow down. I was surprised to find that I felt fine, not inordinately taxed at all. I was putting in a heavy effort and breathing harder than I would be on a training run, but nothing that I couldn't maintain.
Then my inner voice started to haunt me, “You’ve gone too fast, slow down, you’ll never make it.” As much as I tried to ignore that voice, my legs were slower and not nearly as fast as I had started then I started to feel taxed.
I pressed on. At the second mile marker, the time was 20:20. So that was a 10:28 split for the second mile. At this point I was tired and getting quite cranky. Mostly cranky with the ladies who would sprint and then walk but somehow I couldn’t shake them from my pace and since I was tired I wanted to walk so, so bad but I had made only two goals for this race and not walking was one of those goals, so walking wasn’t an option. At one point, rounding out toward mile marker 3 I actually had to hold my hand up to block myself from seeing THE WALKERS.
Suddenly, like an angel from heaven, a lady passes me, coaching her daughter, all of 10, she lets her know that the remainder of the race ahead of us was all of a lap, in a different situation I may have made out with her but I had a race to finish. I perked up at this wonderful news because a quarter of a mile was nothing, at most 3 minutes, and I could finally see the end in sight and although I wanted to die, I wasn’t dead.
Coming into this race I had anticipated I would be able to see end and kick it into high gear, however, this was not the case, and I was in overdrive already and wanted nothing more than a bucket to catch my vomit.
Crossing the finish line was a blur I just wanted to make it over all of the chip readers before stopping. Upon completion I was disoriented, crying (yes, I wept, mostly because I have never been so happy to have something end in my entire life) and in need of water because I had a bad case of cotton mouth.
In the midst of my emotional break down a volunteer was trying to tell me he wanted my chip, seriously until he bent over I thought he was speaking another language. I finally got a grip but not before I started shaking like a leaf, apparently my body didn’t like the abuse or maybe next time I’ll eat something before the race.
I survived and it turns out I didn’t do too shabby either.
So, an overview of my goals...
1. Finish the race -- check.
2. Do not walk -- check.
3. Try for a sub-35:00 -- check!!
My final stats for this race were:
Mile one: 9:52
Mile two: 20:20 (10:28 split)
Finish time: 31:52Pace: 10:16
Place: 407Female: 219/461 (52 percentile)
Age Division: 16/36 (55 percentile)
For my first race after two months of training... I can live with that. In fact I can't wait to do it again!
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I'm looking for inspiration people. Please, inspire me.