Friday Night Lights 5K 7.14.17 Race Report: Epic Fail or Valuable Training Run

In the 3 1/2 years, I have been running, this always been my worst race which is probably why my journal entries for both times I've run this race have never made it to a “published” race report. I decide this year that no matter how it turned out, I would complete a race report. We can’t always have stellar races with unexpected victories, right? So here it goes….

The Friday Night Lights 5K is a race held at 9 p.m. and benefits my son's XC team. It begins and ends on the high school track under the lights. The course is on the local bike path and has a few rolling hills and at the end of the race between miles 2.3 and 2.7 shortly before you get back to the high school, there are two back to back; one you can tell is a hill and when you get to the top you think the worst is over followed by a sneaky, gradual incline that isn't very kind to tired legs. Not only have I run this race twice before, but I've run the course many times in my training runs so I definitely know what to expect.

It's a pretty popular race and a lot of kids from local XC teams participate as well as runner graduates home from college on summer break. It also attracts a lot of local running powerhouses. Numbers were down this year though with "only" 554 runners.

To race or not to race, that is the question
This race is always one of my worst races because I am just not a night person. Get me up at 5 a.m. to go for a run and I'm all over it but ask me to run past 5 p.m.? Forget it! I’m usually getting ready for bed at 9 p.m. so I never anticipate doing all that well and if I can make the top 10 in my AG, I am happy. In 2015, my time was 27:40 and I was 8/32 in my AG. In 2016, my time was 26:34 and I was 7/28 in my AG so at least I've been able to hit my AG goals even though both times were my worse 5K times for each of those years.

It is usually very hot and muggy for this race which adds to the level of difficulty for me. Last year it was 90 degrees and the humidity was so intense it was like running through soup. I had debated whether to do this race this year because my company was a sponsor of a local airshow and Friday night was a private party held at the airport. However, we had to take our son to the race and I knew I wouldn't be able to just be a cheerleader, especially with all the racing I have missed this summer. Plus, they changed the course this year due to construction at the high school so they cut out the two hills at the end making it a slightly easier course. The weather was actually forecasted to be more pleasant too, 70% humidity and 75 degrees. Right as I was getting ready to sign up Friday morning, one of the board members from the running club posted on Facebook she decided not to run the race and was giving her bib away. Perfect timing.

Last year's course

This year's course

May not be much of a change but a welcome one for those of us who have run this race before and those of us with tired legs and aren't used to running at night.

Backing up just a bit, as you know I have been dealing with a couple unexplained ailments. On Thursday when I went for my run, while the ball of my foot pain was pretty much gone, towards the end of my run, I felt my left hamstring tighten up, something I have never felt before. It was bad enough I had to quit running and walk the last half mile home. Great, something new to worry about.

Race day
Since I wasn’t sure when I woke up Friday morning if I was going to do this race, I got up before dawn for a short 3 mile run with some walking mixed in so I was sure to get miles for the day and also wanted to see how that hamstring was doing. It wasn't too bad but towards the end again, I felt the strange tightening so I decided I was going to just run the race and not try to race it. Walking would be an acceptable option as well.

Friday after work, I went to pick up the bib and a black cat ran across the street in front of me. I kind of chuckled to myself because as I was trying to get my get up ready for Sunday's race, my black cat sat on it and I ended up smashing that race. I knew with this one I would need all the help I could get! I noticed on the way home my bib number was 1333. Ahhhh, the number 13? Another sign for good luck perhaps? Ha, I wish.

Every year the t-shirt has some kind of movie design.
Even though I don't wear the unisex shirts, I still thought it was cool.

I had everything ready to go before we headed to the party because I knew we would only have a small window of time to get changed and head to the race. I didn't get a picture of my get up but I wore a fluorescent green USMC tank top, a hot pink running skort, a flashy silver headband, and a new pair of running shoes that only had a handful of miles in them. I figured they were the exact same shoe, right down to the color, that I have been running in for over a year and a half and the other three pairs never bothered me before. Besides, this was a "short" 5K so I didn't think new shoes wouldn't be a problem.

We headed off to the party and when we got there, I was really bummed we were going to have to leave at 8 to head to the race. Not only were we going to miss out indulging in all the awesome food they had, there was also a nighttime air show we were going to miss. Since I wasn't super excited about this race and I knew my time wasn't going to be all that, I figured I might as well enjoy the party and enjoyed more food than I should have. I also stood the entire time because I was worried sitting would make my hamstring cranky. Coincidentally, my boss and his wife were going to run the race too. They both run at night and live in a pretty hilly area so this would be an easy race for them. They were at the party too and didn't seem too concerned about enjoying what the party had to offer before the race.

Ready.set.go
The clock struck 8 and it was time to leave. Paul was going to take aerial video of the race so we needed to make sure he had enough time to get set up so we headed for home, got changed, and headed up to the high school. I decided I wasn't going to do a warm up but Rick wanted to so we wished each other luck and all parted ways. While I was waiting around, I ran into my boss's wife. We chatted for a bit and then I decided I might want to do a real short warm up so we wished each other luck and I went on my way. I happened to see Paul and wondered why he was carrying his UAV and not flying so close to the start of the race. Apparently he had forgotten his memory card for the UAV in his laptop from an aerial photography job he did earlier in the day. Even though we are only 2 miles from the school, there wasn't enough time for him to drive home and get the card before the race started. Bummer. This would have been a really cool race to video from up above. He was not happy about this either.

Egads, I even look like death before the race. LOL 

They announced the race was about to start so I headed over to the track, saw my boss and his wife again, and decided to move up closer to the front. It was a pretty packed race and there were also a lot of young kids so I tried to get as close to the front as I could, of course giving space to the serious runners. One of the women from the running club came up next to me so we chatted for a bit. She knew I was not looking forward to this race and that I was at a shin dig beforehand so we joked a bit about whether I was going to be able to keep my dinner down or if she'd find me on the course sleeping. I told her it wasn't going to be pretty but in my head I thought I have gone into races not expecting to do well and I always surprise myself so maybe I would luck out this time. Goodness knows just how wrong I would be.

The gun went off and as we made the lap around the track, I actually wasn't feeling too bad. Maybe this race wouldn't be a bust after all, reinforcing the thoughts that I would probably do better than expected. Unfortunately, as soon as we got to school's parking lot and heading towards the bike path, my shins started to ache and for the first 2 miles, they felt like they were on fire. I tried using positive self-talk since it worked so well on Sunday but it wasn't helping. Not this time. What made matters worse was seeing the people I usually pass in races pass ME up never to be seen again. Ugh. Talk about demoralizing. This.Sucked. And I had 3 miles of this crap? I had already fallen out of love with the 5K distance but now I was REALLY hating it. I tried to ignore the shin pain and tried to keep telling myself positive things but all my mind would do was go back to how miserable I was feeling. There were several times I thought about just walking because this race was doomed before it even began but I decided to just keep going until I couldn't go anymore.

Push it
Mile 1 came and went and so did mile 2. The hills didn't seem too bad but it's probably because I was feeling pretty miserable as it was so how could it get worse, right? LOL. All my usually racing strategies went out the window and I just kept reminding myself the misery would be over soon. At about mile 2.5 is where the course changed from last year, all we had was one more hill to run and the rest of the race would be nice and flat leading to the final lap around the track to the finish line. I don't know what it was about that hill or maybe it was the song that came on my playlist "Push It" by Static X but all of the sudden I got this surge of energy and I ran up that hill like it was nothing and started running past people I had been behind the whole time. Maybe I had virtual cheerleaders somewhere cheering extra hard! Shortly before I got to the football stadium, I saw Paul and I don’t recall what he said to me because I was in a zone. This is also where I could start feeling my hamstring tighten up a bit but I just kept going because there was no stopping me now.

Usually by the time I hit the track in past races, I am dead and have zero energy left. Not this time. I almost felt like I was floating as I made my way around the track and was passing people left and right. I didn't even notice the finish line clock and surprised the heck out of myself that I was able to pick it up like that. I crossed the finish line and looked at my Garmin. The "high" I felt because of my strong finish quickly dissipated when I saw my time….28:19….my personal worse 5K time ever. I knew I was going to do poorly but that poorly? Buzz kill.

I found Rick after the race and we headed over to the computers with the live results. Sure enough, worst 5K time ever coming in at 28:19… Over 4 minutes slower from my current 5K PR set the hilly race on Mother's Day. I did, however, make the top 10 in my AG by placing 7th so it wasn't a total epic fail. Rick did really well with a time of 21:00 and even though he was 25/55 in his AG, he was 85 OA and he also met his time goal so he was happy. I chatted with another lady from the running club and once we found Paul, we headed home. I was still so full from the party I didn't even bother with the post-race snacks.

Post race thoughts
Even though I went into the race not expecting to do well which is a pretty common mindset I have with every race, this is the first race ever where I actually did poorly than expected. I literally have never has such a horrible race on so many levels in the short 3 1/2 years I have been running. As you can imagine, at first it was a pretty hard pill to swallow and I was downright embarrassed and mad at myself. But then I started thinking about the comments people made on my Facebook post and conversations I had with some of you here and my thinking has gone from "this race was an epic fail" to "this race was a very valuable training run" and I started to think about all the things that may have contributed to my performance:

• First and foremost, running at night. I am just not built for running so late and I have no desire to start so that will always be a factor.
• Even though Friday morning was a run with some walking mixed in, it was still 3 miles and I usually take the day off from running completely before a race. Not only did I run all week, I also ran on race morning.
• I raced a pretty hard 5 mile race five days prior. I looked back in my journal from the past two years and same thing...Johnnycake Jog 5 miles on Sunday, Friday Night Lights on Friday. 
• I wore running shoes that weren't broken in yet.
• I also stood the entire time at the party so could both the new shoes and standing for two hours prior contribute to the shin pain?
• I never eat or drink before a run or a race (except for a cup of coffee on race morning). I pretty much had a full stomach and actually felt bloated from the carbonation and water.

I have thought about the good things about this race as well. I did still manage to place in the top 10 so it wasn't a total loss. Also, not only have I done this race before but I have done others that follow almost the exact same course and the surge of energy I had at the end was a first. I couldn't believe how I was was able to tackle that hill and pick up the pace after feeling so rotten the previous miles. It was a pretty awesome feeling!

I ended up a pacer for someone. =) Apparently my boss and his wife were trying to keep up with me which I didn't know this until after the race. He is very fast and often places in his AG but she is more of a casual runner and she has never broken 30:00 for a 5K and that was her goal for this race. He decided to run with her to help pace her and apparently I helped pace her too. They know I'm a quick on my feet so they decided if they could keep up with me, she'd meet her time goal. He said they did a pretty good job until I had that surge of energy that came out of no where and he commented he was pretty impressed with the way I picked it up like that. By the way, she did complete the race under 30 minutes and thanked me for "helping" her.

I mentioned the cheerleaders earlier. What's funny is with this race, they have live results and you can have your splits and results texted to people or post to your Twitter or Facebook feed as you pass the sensors. Even though they changed my information associated with that bib number, apparently the live results were still being texted to the people the woman whose bib it was originally. She told me after the race her husband, her running coach, and herself were virtually cheering me on and congratulated me for a great race and for picking it up at the end like I did. Virtual cheerleaders indeed. LOL Of course, they didn't know this was my worst race ever but it was still kind of cool they were cheering me on. I got kudos from some running elites. How could I be upset about that?!

So this year's Friday Night Lights will go down as the worst race in history for me and the first race where I actually ran as horribly as I felt but considering how many races I've done so far, one out of 30+ really isn't all that bad. I'm glad that rather than feeling defeated by it, I have been able to take a step back and accept every race can't be an unexpected victory and that even in a bad race, not only can you learn from it, you can still find something positive about it, too.

Stats
Mile splits 8:53, 9:17, 9:07

7/27 AG
118/276 Females
327/554 OA

Running with the Devil: Rock Hall HM/Rock City 10K Race Report 8.20.17

The devil on my shoulder refers to the negative thoughts that go through my brain when I am either running or racing. It's that voice that tells me I can't do this or other negative self talk. It totally messes with my confidence and it really can wreak havoc on a person's performance if you let it. If you're a runner, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about. A lot of times I am able to fend him off. This would not be one of those times.

The 3rd Annual Rock Hall HM/Rock City 10K/5K is a race in DT Cleveland with the start and finish at the Rock Hall. It has always been one of my favorite races because the course has gone through the downtown city streets, there is a great race vibe with great race bling, and the post-race goodies never disappoint. They also have cool gender-specific shirts and this year they even gave us Brooks technical ones! This was the first year they offered a 10K distance and they also included a HM 3-person relay and even virtual races. In the past two years, I've done the 5K and both years not only did I place 1st and 2nd in my AG respectively, I've also set lifetime 5K PRs both years so I was torn whether I should try for year #3 of retaining my AG placing, PR the course again, see if I could beat my current PR from a 5K I did on Mother's Day this year, or run the new 10K. When I learned they changed the 5K course, I was glad I signed up for the 10K because it wouldn't be an apples-to-apples comparison from the previous years….that is until I found out both the 5K and 10K courses would be an out and back from the Rock Hall, down the Marginal (the road that runs north and south along Routes 2 and 90 heading into the city). There is no shade and not a lot of green space so the temperature is always warmer because of the heat coming off of the pavement. Plus, it is a straight shot and extremely boring with nothing really interesting to look at which makes it seem like it goes on forever, and ever, AND ever. I refer a course such as this as a death march and one of the reasons I've always said I would never run the HM offered because the last 3 or so miles of that race went down the Marginal with a hill right at the end a few hundred years from the finish line. This year, the 5K and 10K runners would be getting share in the "fun" now too because all of our races would finish that very same way and not only that, I'd get to do the death march x 2 having to run down it and then back. Yay me! Maybe I should have signed up to do the 5K after all.

The course

All distances started and ended at the Rock Hall with all the races joining each other at some point. I've already talked about course above so I don't really have much to say but here's a picture of what the 10K looked like and the elevation profile. This year they had live bands playing along the course every few miles. That was something new they added.

Not really as flat as I thought it was going to be.

Goals
With the on again, off again, "it's your-hamstring-but-not-your-hamstring issues" I have been having, I haven't been doing a lot of speed work AKA racing this summer. Even though I've raced the 10k distance twice before (the Kiss Me I’m Irish 10K held in March 2016 and 2017), without having a lot of fast running under my belt lately, I really didn't know what to expect. I was hoping that with this course being relatively flat and the Kiss Me race being hilly and curvy, I'd at LEAST be able to beat my 10K PR of 53:20 if only by a couple seconds. Since this was a new race for me, my other goal as it is for any new race, was to place in the top 10 but I thought that might even be too adventurous since this race has been heavily advertised over the past year all over the country and was the first time the race had a local TV station as a sponsor so I assumed all the super speedy ladies in my AG would be showing up making the competition fierce and darn near impossible to beat. Lastly, my self-confidence was still kind of in the dumps after my horrible performance during that Friday night 5K in July and quite honestly was kind of afraid to race again for fear of blowing it so I had no idea what to expect and was just going to wing it see how things played out.

Black cat strikes again
I am not sure what it is about my silly cat and her always wanting to sit on my race get up when I'm trying to get it ready the night before. Hmmm...maybe she would give me some black cat luck like she did when she sat on my race get up for the 5 Miler (a race I unexpectedly killed it at) I did 5 days before my Friday Night 5K bomb but I wasn't counting on it.

Silly cat!

Running with the devil begins
I am lucky if I can get 3-4 hours of continuous sleep on any given night but for some reason when I went to bed Saturday night, I CRASHED and slept the entire night so when my alarm went off at 4:52, I turned it off completely forgetting that I had a race and went back to sleep. Figures the morning I am actually sleeping I can't enjoy. Luckily I woke up again and at 5:45, I got out of bed to start getting ready. Good thing but the devil on my shoulder, who I had trying to keep at bay all week, started playing the mind games. Race morning was not starting off on the right foot and I started having my doubts about the race itself. After my two cups of coffee, a bite of a banana, we headed out the door. As we were driving, I started obsessing about how horrible the death march was going to be and Paul brought up a good point that I'd be running right by the lake and would be able to see the boats and such so that made me feel a little bit better. Also, in past years it has been so humid and nasty but this year is was in the upper 60s and the humidity was pretty low. There is some positive self talk…maybe this race wouldn't be so bad after all.

Yep, devil isn't going anywhere
Luckily we only live about 25 minutes from the city and we didn't have to worry about parking this race. They were expecting 2,500 people and parking can be kind of a pain when the race is smaller with a 1,000 but Paul and Rick were volunteering at a water stop and were going to park there so we got off at East 9th right in front of the Rock Hall, I jumped out, and Paul and Rick drove over to where they needed to be. I was happy they were assigned the stop on the Marginal between HM mile marker 11 and 12 so I would get to see them during the last 2-3 miles of my race especially since I wouldn't have them (or anyone else I thought) cheering me on at the finish.

It was absolutely PACKED (and this is just the front of the Rock Hall):

The races were staggered so the HM started at 7:15, the 10K started at 7:30, and the 5K started at 7:45. I had about 25 minutes to use the restrooms and get a quick warm up in so I was there in plenty of time…or so I thought. I decided to make my way through the crowd of people towards the porta johns and found this: 

Yes, that's the line and when I took that picture I only had 15 minutes until race time so I started to panic…was it a bathroom break (which I desperately needed) or a warm up because I would not have time for both. I could not believe with the amount of people they were anticipating that that was the ONLY row of bathrooms. The line barely moved and that only made the devil on my shoulder worse. Luckily, one of my friends (John) whom I didn't know was running the 10K too, saw me and said there was a whole other row of bathrooms behind the ones I was waiting in line for and there were only 20 people in line so we made a mad dash over there. Can you tell there is another row behind those porta johns? No, me neither and it would have been nice if there was a sign letting the runners know this or to have the race announcer say something. It's not like they couldn't see the line because just to the left of me is where HM startling line was and all distance finish lines were. While we were waiting in line, John asked what kind of time I was looking at so I told him I'd hope to at least like to match or beat my PR from the March 10K and would be happy with anything around 53:00.

With 10 minutes to spare, I had just enough time for a quick warm up so off I went away from the crowd. These races usually have a starting mat so even if I wasn't right there when the gun went off, it wouldn’t matter so I wasn't TOO worried and thought maybe NOW this race wouldn't be so bad…Oh but wait, there's more.

Where oh where is the starting line
All the races were supposed to start at the same spot like they did last year but apparently that wasn't the case. When I was done with my warm up, I went to where the HM racers began and I was wondering where the heck all the 10K people were. Only a couple minutes and no start flags, no 10K runners. I started to panic and started making my way over to the Browns stadium up the street a bit because I knew from looking at the course map that we'd be running around it. I still couldn't see a starting line and asked someone if they knew where the race began and the person told me they announced they moved the start actually at the Browns Stadium (missed that announcement because of my warm up) so I started running and finally found all the other 10K people. I also saw one of the XC moms (Laurie) who is runner and is one of the serious contenders in her AG. Luckily, she is not in mine and therefore not my competition but she is faster than I am and little did I know how much she was going to help me during this race. We chatted for a bit and just as we think it's time to go, they start moving the start flags so instead of starting at the stadium and running around it and then toward the Marginal, we would now be running in FRONT of the stadium and making our way there. This race has been so well run the past two years I couldn't believe what a mess things seemed to be and other runners were obviously annoyed like I was. Anyway, so they started the countdown and the gun went off. I kept waiting to cross over the timing mat so I could start my Garmin but there wasn't one in sight so apparently this was going to be a gun start. It's a darn good thing I found out about those other bathrooms because had I got up to the starting line only to find out it was a gun start, I would have been miffed. After a few seconds when I realized there was no mat, I started my watch. Needless the say, all of this added more fuel to the fire where the devil is concerned, throwing me even more off my game, and it was at that point, I was pretty sure the devil was there to stay.

Running with the devil
There was a slight breeze which made for a decent start but I just felt so far off my game and no matter what technique I tried, I just could NOT shake the negative self talk and ran that way pretty much the entire race. I decided I was not going to look at my watch and just run. I think I looked once or twice at a mile split but that was it. The devil kept telling me the race was doomed from the start and seeing how slow I thought I was running was only going to make matter worse. I tried not to look at the freeway signs because then I'd know how much further I had to go and with each passing mile, it felt like a constant struggle to just keep moving and my brain kept focusing on how tired and horrible I was feeling but I tried to combat that with telling myself to just slow down if I needed too.

It was also struggle with as they say "my race, my pace" when it came to Laurie. Even though she is the 55-59 AG and not my competition in that regard, she's pretty darn fast and I can only think of one race we were in together where I had a faster time, and that was only because she was running with a friend who had just started running and who was much slower than both of us. For this race, we started off together, she got head of me, and I was able to pass her and keep my lead for awhile but in between miles 3 and 4, there was a hill going up to E 55th where we'd run across the bridge and then back down the other side of the Marginal heading back to the city. Doesn't look like much of a hill in a car but running it was another story and I was struggling pretty bad as it was so it felt like a mountain. As soon as we descended the hill on the other side to head back, Laurie took the lead and I would see the back of her for the remainder of the race. I kept telling myself I didn't have to run as fast as she was and it was ok that she was in the lead but pretty much fought that devil the rest of the race, too. However, I did make it my goal to no let her get too far ahead of me and that kept me moving.

We passed the water stop where her husband and boys were volunteering and since she didn't stop, neither did I. I didn't want her to gain too much of a lead. The death march was just as bad as I thought it was going to be because remember how Paul thought I'd be able to see the lake and just focus on that? Well, that part of the Marginal goes in front of a small airport so all you got to see what the runway…no lake, no boats. And the temperatures had started to rise so it was getting HOT…ANNND there was no shade and what little breeze there was at the beginning of the race was gone. This was a death march for sure. I forced myself to not look at the gates along the fence of the airport because I knew Rick and Paul were at Gate 11 (which was still a way aways at this point) and I'd still have some miles to go once I saw them so I just tried to focus on Laurie and tried to keep running at our paces. One thing good I can say is I noticed I wasn't getting passed by a lot of people which I thought was odd because I'm ALWAYS getting passed so that was a little bit of a mental boost. I was taking whatever I could get at this point. Who knew what not getting passed by many people would mean later on.

To stop or not to stop
I really felt like I was losing steam and my mental game was shot so I started to think if maybe I'd stop at the water stop where Rick, Paul, several of Rick's XC teammates, and the two assistant coaches were and maybe take a short walk break, drink some water, and start running again I would be ok. As we approached the water stop, Laurie didn't stop and again, I didn’t want her to get too far ahead plus, I got a little boost a from everyone cheering us on so I grabbed a cup of water from Rick on the fly, attempted to take a drink (failing miserably) and kept going. Paul yelled out to me that I needed to catch Laurie and I yelled back "I can't!" Ha! There's that devil hanging on with only 2 or so miles to go.

Hmmm, maybe there's hope
I eventually got to the spot where the 5K runners joined the 10K and HM course. At first, I just kept thinking about how much farther I had to go and also started dreading the hill at the end right before the finish. The hill at the E 55th bridge about killed me, there was no way I'd be able to manage that hill and have a strong finish. I was a little annoyed because there were SO many people (most of them walkers) and I thought I'd have to do a lot of bob and weaving but it actually wasn't bad at all AND it actually helped with that dang devil! I was passing everyone so in my mind I pretended I was in the 5K too and being able to pass people completely changed the way I was feeling mentally and before I knew it, I sailed up that hill like it was no one's business and the finish line was in my sights.

"Rock star" finish
Since I wasn't watching my Garmin, I had no idea where I was time-wise and all I was focused on was the finish and not the clock. My friend, John, usually places in his AG so he finished well ahead of me and to be honest, I forgot that he was even at the race. I didn't realize he was waiting at the finish for the final push until all the sudden there he was and I heard him say "Joy, look at the clock, you're in the 50:00s and when I looked up, holy Moses I sure was and I was able to give it one last kick. I crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin. 50:57 and new PR by over three minutes! Well look at that!!! Completely out of breath, I grabbed the water and finisher's medal they were handing out at the finish line and took a walk so I could get my breathing back under control. John found me and we headed over to the computers were to check our official times and see how we fared against everyone else in the 10K. I could NOT believe my eyes when I saw I was 1st in my AG!!!! I was floored. My official chip time was 51:02 and another bronze guitar to add to my award wall! John placed 1st in his AG so we took each other's pictures in front of the computer monitors that displayed our stats and headed over for some post-race goodies: bananas, watermelon, cookies, and pizza. Yum! They also had bottled water, some new sports drink that was one of the sponsors, coconut water, and fruit popsicles from a local place I refer to as the Starbucks of organic and local fruit juice smoothies/beverages and other healthy food options. I was surprised the watermelon and beet juice one I grabbed didn't taste half bad.

They always have GREAT race bling and everyone gets a finisher's medal:

I ended up finding Laurie whom I had lost in the sea of people right before the hill toward the finish. With her chip time of 50:50, she placed 2nd in her AG and I was pretty dang pleased with myself I was only 12 seconds behind her. Guess I hung with her better than I thought. I also found my co-worker who had walked the 5K. We usually meet up before a race but it was just a cluster that morning I completely forgot to call her and tell her I was there. They decide to hand out the awards at the finish line rather than over in front of the Rock Hall so people could still cheer on runners which was a nice change. They also had Elvis and the cougar mascot from a local radio station so when I went up to get my award, I high fived both of them. What's not to love about getting a high five from Elvis, especially after you just killed it!

After the awards were done, Laurie and I walked to where our families were volunteering. It was fun cheering on everyone else who was finishing the race as we walked in the opposite direction they were coming. When we got to Paul and Rick's spot, we all chatted for a bit and I thanked her for being my pacer (unbeknownst to her) and helping me finish the race. She said goodbye and headed further down where her DH and sons were.

Final thoughts
This race was probably THE most mentally challenging race to date for two reasons: that dastardly devil I was never able to fend of completely and the course itself. I think had things gone a little smoother before the race, I would have had a better mindset in the beginning. As for the course, I often run out and back routes during my training runs so that wasn't the problem so much but rather where this particular course was, the fact there was no shade, there was nothing exciting around you to look at to keep your mind distracted, and things that aren't that far away by car seem like an eternity when you're on foot. Had the course gone through the downtown city streets, I know it would not have been so bad mentally. I talked to several people before and after the race and they agreed what a less-than-desirable and boring course it was. I even know one person who said she could be paid enough money to run it was so I wasn't alone in my thinking.

When you look at my splits below, you can definitely tell I was slowing down as the race went on, namely during/after the E 55th bridge. Of course I would have preferred negative splits and if they weren't negative, at least be at little bit closer than they were but at the end of the day, it's the time you cross the finish line that matters and I am still very thrilled with my performance.

It kind of dawned on me as I was writing this that the reason I was feeling so "crappy" and tired during wasn't because I was racing poorly but quite the contrary. I was pushing myself and had it felt easier, would I have been running at my full potential? Probably not. I will definitely keep this in mind and try to "embrace the suck" a little more next time because it usually means good things.

Even though I ran with the devil and wasn't able to get the positive talk working for me like it did during the 5 Miler I ran in early July, I was still able to use racing strategies that have worked with me in the past at other races: not looking at my Garmin and having a target who this time happened to be Laurie.

Laurie and I both figured when there weren't a whole lot of people passing us nor were there really a lot of people around us in general during the race that it was just a REALLY small race (like less than 100). Little did we know this was because we were in FRONT of everyone.

In closing, for a race that I thought was doomed from the start and was a constant battle with the devil on my shoulder ended up and with yet another unexpected "rock star" finish, just as it has the past two years. Never, ever did I think I would even place in my AG, much less get 1st and once again, the Rock Hall race did not disappoint. Three years, 3 AG placings, and a PR every single year? I guess I can tell that devil where it can go…. LOL

Thanks for taking the time to read if you made it all the way to the end. =)

Stats
51:02
8:12 pace
1/ 24 AG
14/222 Females
38/305 Overall

Splits
8:11
8:10
8:09
8:21 (guess you can kind of figure where the E 55th bridge was)
8:26
8:35
7:35

Elijah Update and Team "Just Keep Swimming...and Running" Official Team Photo

I apologize for the delay in posting our official team picture but I would like once again thank everyone who helped support The Gathering Place’s Race for the Place 5K by either joining my team “Just Keep Swimming…and Running” or making a donation. Together we raised over $1,000 and I am “overjoyed” by the love and support from friends and family for a cause that is so near and dear to my heart. As you know, I dedicated this year’s race to my friend and inspiration, Elijah Smart, and while it’s been a crazy summer and we haven’t been able to get together since the race, his mom and I have kept in contact and she posted an update yesterday which I would like to share with all of you:

“Heard from the cardiologist for Elijah today. The results from his 24 hour test was fantastic. Dr. said he'd like to see him in 6 months but if the results are as good as these he won't have to go again. Praise God! We have prayed for God to restore Elijah's body to complete health and to protect his organs and body from adverse effects of the chemo! Thank you God for answering. Tomorrow he has blood work again and I expect continued good results. God has answered and my baby is healed!”

Thank you again for all your continued support and prayers for Elijah and his family. They are truly making a difference in their lives.

The Race for the Place will be held on Sunday, June 3, 2018 and I will once again have a team so mark your calendars and join us for a great race for a wonderful cause.

#godisgood #justkeepswimmingandrunning #racefortheplace #thegatheringplace

Just Keep Swimming...and Running 2017

Every Mile a Memory: Johnnycake Jog 5 Mile Race 7.9.17

I honestly intended on keeping this short, sweet, and to the point. You can see I failed miserably. I've added subheads for those who want to skip the fluff. LOL

The Course

The Johnnycake Jog 5 Mile Race is very popular and competitive. It's one of the few USTAF certified courses locally (as far as I know anyway) and it draws people from all over the country. This was it’s 41st year and last year for the 40th anniversary, they added a 5K distance. The course is relatively flat with a sneaky, gradual hill between miles 1 and 2. Sneaky meaning when you drive it in your car, you'd barely know it was an incline but running it is a different story. Not a killer hill, you just don’t realize how long it is and since maybe people start off too fast as it is, that hill can make or break how you do the rest of the race.

The route is pretty basic and all right turns. The first stretch along a road outside the county fairgrounds, the second is down a busy but residential road call Johnnycake Ridge Road, hence the name of the race, with a little shade here and there (but not much), and the final stretch is what I call the death march: 1.75 miles in full sun straight down a very busy 5 lane road surrounded by shopping plazas. Basically a concrete jungle with next to no green space so the heat from the concrete makes it feel 100 times warmer. It seems to go on forever…and ever… AND ever with no finish arch in sight most of the way. It literally can be a death march if it’s hot and humid because you get absolutely no break from the sun and if there was any breeze, you wouldn't feel it because of the buildings. We were lucky this year because of the unseasonably cool and wet summer we've been having here on the North Coast, race-time temps were in the upper 60s/low 70s and the humidity wasn't bad, at least not at race time.

If there are two things people “complain” about this race is that sneaky hill in the beginning and the death march at the end and several people swear they will never run the race again because of one, the other, or both…only to show up the next year. Waving hand…that was me… matter of fact, I said it in 2015 but went back for more in 2016…this year made round #3 LOL. 

Ironic it is held in the City of Painesville? I think not.

To race or not to race, that is the question

For the past month, I have been dealing with what I thought was a hamstring issue so I haven’t raced since June’s Race for the Place 5K. I have been taking it easy ever since which means I’ve had to pass on all the races I was planning on doing and have done more run/walks than runs in an effort to keep whatever what’s going on in my back of my left leg at bay. I went back and forth whether I should attempt this but I wanted to do this race because A. it’s the only 5 miler locally I am liking mid-distance races more and more and B. my son., Rick, was going to run it and it’s one of the very few races we can do together because of him being in track and cross country and not being allowed to run road races during those seasons. I waited until a couple days before the race to sign up and once I picked up our packets, I was really excited to be finally able to be in a race again at whatever capacity that would be.

Goals

Knowing how competitive this race is, in the years I’ve done it, I’ve never expected to get an AG placing because the women in my AG are just too dang fast. We're talking finish times in the low 30s. As with any other race, I look at the previous years times and try to gauge where I might fit in. In 2015, my goal was to place in the top 15. I came in 10th. In 2016, my goal was to make the top 10. I came in 7th. For repeat races, I always make it a goal to beat the time from the previous year. In 2015, my time was 46:57 and in 2016 it was 43:25. Since I haven’t been able to do any fast running in over a month, I really thought it was going to have a negative impact on my race time plus given the fact that most of my miles over the last month have been run/walk miles and not all running miles AND throw in I haven't actually ran 5 miles without having to take walk breaks in the last month, I pretty much decided my only goal for this year was just to be able to finish because I didn't even know I was going to be able to run it, much less race it. If a top 10 placement and PR miraculously happened, it would be icing on the cake but I definitely wasn’t counting on it. With that said, I decided for this race I would not worry about what my Garmin said and just run completely by feel and see how it went. In past races, I usually end up making that decision after I'm already well into the race but this time I decided to do it from the get go. This would truly be a race where time was not a factor and I would just run for fun. I was leaving everything out on the course.

Queen of mysterious injuries

As most of you know, whatever has been going on with the back of my left leg has been a bit of a mystery. It really did come out of no where and even the PT isn't sure what's going on. Well, if that wasn't bad enough when it came to my anticipated race performance, I woke up Saturday morning barely able to walk. The ball of my left foot was on FIRE. Seriously, it hurt to walk. I have NO idea what happened either. I ran Friday and was fine, was fine all day at work, even walked the beach with Paul Friday night after dinner (I've walked that beach more times than I can count and was even there just a few weeks ago and didn't have any problems). I know I didn’t step on anything so yet again, another mysterious injury. While the pain subsided a bit throughout the day, I could still feel something and I was so upset because here I was racing for the first time in over a month and now this! And it wasn't even just a 5K… it was 5 miles! How the heck was I going to do this?! I hoped that maybe the pain would just go away on Sunday morning as mysteriously as it came so I proceeded to get my race outfit ready Saturday night.

Of course, my black cat decided she needed to lay on my race outfit and I was trying to get it ready. Like I needed any more "bad" luck for this race. However, her name IS Hope and I DID pick out my "unstoppable" "hope" Balega running socks to wear... Hmmmmm...

Race Morning

I slept like crap all night obsessing about my foot and praying that when I got out of bed, I would be miraculously cured. Nope, I stepped out of bed Sunday morning and was hardly able to walk again. I honestly didn't know what I was going to do. Do I even attempt to do this or just bag it all together? Do I try it and if my foot doesn't improve, do I turn off at the 5K turn off just to get back to the fairgrounds faster? Do I take my phone (which I don’t usually race with because I have my iPod Nano) in case I am in such excruciating pain I need to have Paul come pick me up? I was at a total loss. I thought about wearing the new pair of shoes that haven't been broken in yet but even though they are the same make and model as what I've been running in for the last year and a half, I was worried if that would make matter worse. Goodness knows I didn't need any MORE running injuries. I also thought about going to the store to see if they had pads I could use to cushion the ball of my foot with but we were running out of time and I didn't know if they'd have what I needed. Wouldn’t you know I was looking through a drawer in the bathroom right before we were getting ready to leave and I found two silicone foot pads I forgot I had! Yay! I doubled them up and even though you're not supposed to try anything new on race day, I was willing to give it a whirl. Race morning cup off coffee done, banana eaten, foot pads inserted, it's time to go!

Warm Up

We parked our Jeep in a shopping plaza a little less than a 1/4 mile from the staging area which is at the county fairgrounds. My foot ached but at least I could walk. But how about run? That was the question. Once we got to the staging area, Rick and I decided to go for a warm up run. Even though the padding helped, my foot was still sore but I decided I would attempt the 5 miles because if worse came to worse, I'd just walk to the finish. I could at least manage that. 

Race time

The 5 mile started at 8 am and the 5K started at 8:15 so when they announced for the 5 milers to head to the starting line, we said goodbye to Paul went to find our spots. Rick saw one of his XC friends closer to the front so we wished each other luck and I went a little further back. Last year I purposely put myself closer to the back so I didn't start out too fast but it was so aggravating having to weave around people, strollers, etc. (there are several hundred runners) so I was just far back enough where I wouldn't be in the way of the serious runners but close enough I would hopefully not have to deal with the usual mayhem. Since this race is all right hand turns, I decided to stand as close to the right side as possible. The gun went off and so did we.

What a different self-talk makes

I remember reading the article "Talk yourself through a better 5k" on RW not too long ago and decided to use some of the strategies mentioned. One was replacing the “Uh-oh, I started too fast” thought with “This is what I’ve trained for.” Another was how dwelling on how hard a effort feels makes it worse so rather focus on how well you're doing. I think this is the first race I've done where I completely let go of all thoughts about how fast I started out and bad I was feeling in any particular moment during the race right from the start. There have been other races I've kind of let go midway through but this was the first time I went into a race with this mindset. I would tell myself "this is the speed that I am running at this moment and right now I feel good. If it gets to be too much, I will just scale it back as needed and enjoy just being out there." In all honesty, that's what racing is all about to me…it's not about winning or placing. Don't get me wrong, those are nice when they happen, but those are not the end all, be all in my opinion. Racing is about being out there doing something I never dreamed possible. Not to mention, the race vibe is such a rush and I am highly addicted to it.

Wow, let me tell you what a difference freeing your mind makes!! I will admit I looked at my watch one time a couple minutes into the race because old habits die hard and I think it might have been in the 7's but I didn't obsess about it like I usually do. The only other times I would glance my watch was when it would vibrate after every mile because I wanted to see how closely my Garmin matched the course mile markers. Quiet honestly, I couldn't believe when I saw numbers in the 8s! I certainly didn't feel like I was running that fast. That right there had many positive mental effects because I actually felt good and not like I was dying. What's funny is even though I happened to notice my numbers were in the 8s, it didn't really compute how well I was really doing. I've never been good when it comes to numbers anyway LOL.

The miles

It always impresses me how so many of my running friends can break down a race mile by mile and write about things that happened during each specific one. I thought I would try that for this race but the miles just all blend together now and my short term memory stinks so here are just some general things about the race that stand out.

I must have picked a good spot to start this race because even though the crowd didn't thin out until about mile 3 or so, I rarely did a lot of bob and weaving. Perhaps I just happen to pick the right people behind who were running my speed. There was yet again one little boy whom I though was going to constantly cut me off which always seems to happen but not this time. Whew.

I used my usual race strategy of picking out a person ahead of me trying to stick with them. If I passed them up, I'd find someone else.

It was pretty amazing that I felt zero foot pain when I ran and when I got to the sneaky hill where I thought my hamstring my bark, it was like there was never an issue at all. Even after the race and throughout the remainder of the day…no foot pain, no back of leg pain. As I write this though, the ball of my foot still hurts. I can run just fine but walking is still painful and my back of leg business was completely gone until this morning. So.weird.

Perfect playlist

Music played a huge part in this race and rather than make a new playlist, I decided to use the one I made for the 10 Mile Drop. I will always be one of those people who run with music and I've talked about why before so I won't go there again. When I run on the treadmill, the only way I have found I can tolerate it is by watching music videos. I go off to another world. Often times I will have my own little concert going on, too, complete with air drums (I'm sure the people at the gym think I'm crazy). Well that's kind of what I did during this race. I figured if this was supposed to be a race for fun, I might as well go with it! LOL A song would come on and I would just zone into the music. There were a couple times I did some head banging, fist pumps and I think I even played air drums at one point. Now mind you, I wasn't obnoxious about it but I am sure the people behind me thought I was off my rocker.

Even though my playlist is set to shuffle, the songs that came on as certain times could not have been any more perfect. Rather than talk about all of them, I will only name a couple. The first song when the race started was "Lose Yourself" by Eminem. I was my "power song" when I ran my first HM in honor of my dad and because this is already long enough, I won't go into why that song has such meaning but feel free to visit my blog post about it if you want to know more. It was the perfect song to start off with because I thought back to my determination to finish that HM and how I was determined to finish this race even if it meant I had to walk. Another one worth mentioning is "Ready to Go" by Republica. I distinctly remember it starting right around mile 3 because shortly after the mile marker is when you make your last right turn and start the death march toward the finish. I will be honest as mile 3 approached, the negative thoughts started creeping into my head. It was nearing 80 degrees, there were no clouds, and the death march was coming…worst part of the race! But the song came on and I took that as sign that I was ready to take those last 2 miles head on. Death march be damned!! Power of positive thinking at work once again! There are other songs that had other significant effects on my performance but I will just leave you with those two.

The Death March

If the death march isn't bad enough and not being able to see the finish arch for what seems like an eternity, looking at the shops and plazas as you are running past and realizing just how far away you really are makes it only worse. This year I decided I was only going to focus on what was ahead of me and not what I was running past (which in turns maked me think about how much farther I still have to go). Good strategy. I also focused on the two people who were running in front of me. I had been thinking how I was going to approach the last mile and if I was going to try and gun it as I got closer to the finish line. It was hot and I was pretty tired at this point so I decided I was going to just keep the pace with the people ahead of me and not push for a fast finish. A couple of us leap frogged a bit and while I was able to pass one woman, I was never able to pass the other. That's ok though, I never let her get more than a few strides ahead of me.

I'm not sure at what point I saw Paul along side of the road but I gave him a high five as I passed and said "I'm nailing it" because I was still running and hadn't needed a single walk break. I had no clue how true that statement would be just a few minutes later. I know he said something to me because at this point I had taken one of my earbuds off and turned down my music so I could hear the crowd, something I do at every race, but I couldn't tell you what he said…I was on a death march to the finish and that was my focus but seeing him must have put a little more pep in my step because I could feel myself starting to pick up the pace. And then I saw Rick in the long line of people cheering right before the shoot and also heard one of the XC kids call out my name which always gives me a little more oomph but the biggest oomph of all was seeing the time clock at 41 something and realizing that I was just about to PR this race….so I dug as deep as I could and crossed the finish line. I grabbed a water and walked around for a couple minutes trying to catch my breath. I saw a couple of people from the running club so we chatted for a bit. Paul and Rick eventually found me when Paul showed me my official time (gotta love live results), I just couldn't not believe the numbers I saw. Official time 41:19, a PR by over 2 minutes! We headed over to the building where the computers with the results and post race snacks (bananas, pizza, and my favorite, bagel bites) were. If PR-ing by 2+ minutes wasn't enough of a high, seeing that I placed 4th in my AG and moved up in the ranks yet again, all with my mysterious ailments, put me right over the edge. I jumped up and down like a kid with excitement.

Rick wanted between 35:00 and 40:00. Not to bad for his first road race since both ankle sprains.

I wanted to hang around for the group picture with the running club which I always miss so we headed over to the tent and I got to meet a few people I chat with on Facebook but have never met in person.

Takeaways

The main one is how self-talk can make or break a race. This is the very first race where I didn't dwell on how bad I was feeling but rather how good I was feeling. I didn't worry about whether I started out to fast, I just ran. Even when it came time for the death march, the way I approached it and ran it mentally was a huge game changer. If you haven' t read the article I mentioned about, I highly recommend it.

Once again, racing with no expectations yielded results I never imagined. I thought for sure I'd either have to DNF or take walk breaks so I went into this race with the intention of just having fun…and look, not only did I have fun, but I kicked some butt while I was at it!

Because I was feeling so good during the race and still running at a pretty decent clip, does that mean I wasn't pushing myself hard enough? Don't get me wrong, I didn't feel like I was taking a leisurely stroll but I'm wondering if that's where the positive self-talk was coming into play or if I really had more to give. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. Just something I think about.

Going forward, I will not worry about what my watch says, especially in the beginning of a race. I planned on taping it for this race but forgot until we were already on our way. I may just do that for the next race though. If I remember, that is LOL.

I have to say with the exception of the 1st and 2nd miles where I had to deal with running in the herd and then sneaky hill, I am pretty impressed with myself how consistent my mile split were and I wasn't even trying…I was just running. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this running thing after all.

This race confirmed all the more that I'm really not a fan of 5Ks and I am more of a mid-distance kinda girl. It sealed the deal as to what distance to pick for next month's Rock Hall HM/Rock City 5K race. They are offering a 10K distance this year and I've been going back and forth between trying my hand at the 10K or stick with the 5K because both years I've set my PR for the year and also won 1st and 2nd places in my AG. I think I'll try the 10K and see how I fare.

Lastly, having to take time off and not race and run like I would like to this past month apparently had no effect on my race times like I thought it was going to. This is a HUGE mental boost for me because I've been feeling pretty discouraged lately. I can't wait for my next race!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this if you made it all the way here.


Stats
41:19 and a new PR
4/18 AG
48/192 Females
23/81 Female Masters
182/444 OA

Splits
8:18
8:36
8:02
8:05
8:04
6:27

It all started with a Kris .. My 3 year race-aversary report for the Race for the Place 5K in honor of Elijah

The Gathering Place is a local organization that offers free services to cancer patients and their families and the Race for the Place 5K/1 Mile Walk (RftP) is their fundraiser for the year. It is held annually on National Cancer Survivors Day, the first Sunday in June, at a local, up-scale mall about a half hour from my house. I affectionately call it my race-aversary because it was the race that started it all for me three years ago. The first year after my cancer diagnosis, we did the 1 mile walk with my husband's company's team and when my friend, Kris, was called home after her battle with breast cancer the following January, I vowed to run the 5K in her memory. I wasn't an athlete growing up and had really never run before but that March, I laced up and got moving. My only intention was to run the race, however, and call it a day but I fell in love with racing and here I am, three years later. Last year, I decided to make the RftP my goal race for the year so this year's goal was to run sub 24:00. I have also carried on the "tradition" of running in someone's honor/memory. This year, I decided to run in honor of a young man I know through an organization have been an adult volunteer for for the past 12 years called the Greater Lake County Young Marines named Elijah who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia this past January and has basically lived that the Cleveland Clinic undergoing equally aggressive treatment ever since.

Even though this is a fundraising race, you aren't required to solicit donations like some other cancer organizations make you do. If all you do is sign up for either the 1 mile walk or 5K, they are happy with that and is one of the many reasons The Gathering Place is one of the few cancer-related organizations I support. No high pressure fundraising and the money raised goes back to the community because of the free services the offer. I believe in their mission so much that like to try and raise money though so I had set a goal of $1,800 in honor of the 18th birthday Elijah had to spend in the hospital this spring. I also set a more attainable goal of $500 because anyone who raised that amount would earn a The Gathering Place hooded sweatshirt and I decided if I raised the money, I'd give the shirt to Elijah. Mission complete with $639 to date.

My team consisted of the usual suspects: my oldest sister and her DH, my nephew, his wife, and two boys, my youngest son, Rick, and my co-worker who does a lot of other races with me. Paul usually does the race, too, but he was out of town. We were joined this year by my other co-worker and her daughter, my friend and her husband, and one of the mother's of two of Rick's XC team mates.

 A family the runs together stays together. Full team photo to come. 

The course

The one mile walk goes around the mall through adjacent parking lots and there is no chip timing. The 5K is chip timed and starts on a road next to the mall, goes through well-to-do residential neighborhoods, and then ends back at the mall. It's not a hilly course but it definitely had some inclines and declines (especially for a girl that doesn't run hills). 

Goals

For every race, I like to have 2-3 goals. My first goal (since it was my goal race after all), was to run a sub 24:00. After I PRd on Mother's Day at a 5K with a time of 24:14 on a VERY hilly course (the Race for the Place is relatively flat with some inclines and declines but not really hilly AND I'm not accustom to running hills to begin with), I thought for sure that goal was well in reach. My other two goals were to PR the course (a goal for any repeat race) and to make the top 5 in my AG (I started at 21 the first time I did the race and every year pick a number working my way to being closer to the top finisher). Unfortunately, several days after the Mother's Day race, I developed a mysterious issue with my hamstring and as the RftP got closer, it wasn't getting any better so I was questioning whether any of those would happen. I decided I would take several days off before the race to see if that fixed whatever was going on but had pretty much given up hope that this would be the goal race I planned for it to be. My focus switched from it being more "about me" and my running goals to just being able to make it across the finish line, even if it meant walking it, and that no matter how I got there, it was all in honor of Elijah. I'll be honest, it was a very hard pill to swallow at first but remembering all the personal reason as to why this race was important to me put me back on track mentally.

What to wear, what to wear

I like to have wearable tribute when I run this race but I wasn't sure what to do so I just planned on wearing the shirt I designed in 2015 race when I dedicated the race to the memory of my dear father and wear the leukemia bracelet I bought and have worn every day since deciding to run the race for Elijah. A couple weeks ago, I was talking his mom and she told me about some t-shirts they were having made up to sell to help pay for his mounting medical bills. I'm not a t-shirt person to begin with but she was still getting quotes for the shirts and didn't know if they could do tank top. I decided to make my own using the online storefront I have. What little commissions I make from any of my shirt sales I donate every year to the RftP so it's a win-win. I chose the color blue because it's Elijah's favor color and how ironic, it just so happens to be the color of Dory. Since the name of my team is "Just Keep Swimming..and Running", I decided that text would be perfect for the front and use the saying from the shirts his mom was having made on the back. Of course, I had to add my own tribute text, too. Since I am very particular about I like to run in, I don't require my team to buy team shirts plus it's just another expense but I always make one for me so I let everyone know they are available just in case. My two co-workers like them so they ordered some for race day.

I decided to wear my yellow running skort, too, so I could in Dory colors. Perfect! One more thing about colors… When I got the race packets for my team, I chuckled when I saw the color for this year's event shirt was blue. Perhaps it was a sign of good things to come?

Race morning

At 2:30 am Sunday morning, I woke up stressing about my hamstring and how I would fare during the race and never went back to sleep. I was already exhausted from staying up too late Friday night when my son has his birthday sleep over so needless to say, even if my hamstring cooperated, there is no way I'd have the energy for a stellar performance. Add to the fact I got out of the house later than I wanted, missed the exit to where the race was being held which made me even later which then added to the pre-race anxiety I already had, and they were calling for severe thunderstorms, this race was surely doomed.

Meeting up with the team

The race is staged at a local mall's parking lot. The teams are organized alphabetically in the parking spaces in one of their many lots. There were over 3,500 people at this event and because I got there later than I wanted, we had to park pretty far away. This actually worked out well though because Rick and I could get our warm up run in. I started to jog and sure enough, there went that hamstring making it's presence know. Apparently taking all that time off didn't do a thing. Great! Any hope I had of actually trying to race this race was gone for sure. Even though teams are organized the way they are, it's still very hard to find team mates. We eventually all found each other and then the heavens opened up so we took cover under some trees (I decided next year we'll just meet at the trees rather than search in the sea of people. It was much easier to say "hey, we're by the trees" than anything else). I tried to do a couple more test runs and things still didn't feel good so decided I would start running the race and figured at some point I'd end up walking.

It's go time

The rain stopped, the opening ceremony started at 8:45, and shortly there after, those of us running the 5K headed over to starting line. It gets PACKED. QUICKLY, so we've learned over the years to leave the ceremony and listen as best as we can from the starting line. It's a shame because you miss everything they say but they could also manage the race a little differently where people would get the best of both worlds. I always mention this on the after race survey they send out to all the team captains but it's always the same year after year.

There are a lot of competitive runners and a lot of local school track and XC athletes from schools not in our division who attend this race so it's not all just "community" runners and those of us who want to race the race always try to get close to the front as possible (giving the competitive runners their space, of course) and it never fails people who don't "run" try to get close to the front too. When a group of kids walked up and stood in front of us, at first we were like "ok great, this will be fun" but we quickly learned they were athletes so we figured they'd be perfect to stand behind because they'd all take off and we'd be eating their dust. =) This is exactly what happened when the gun went off and it was the first year there wasn't a lot of dodging and weaving and almost tripping over people. Speaking of the gun going off, the race was supposed to start at 9 but it was delayed by several minutes for some reason. Wouldn't you know the heavens decided to open up and by the time we were off, the rain was really coming down. Great, it was going to be a crappy race AND a wet one.

Rain is a good thing

I'm not sure how long the rain lasted and at one point I remember looking up and seeing the sun starting to peak through. It was already in the upper 70s and I thought for sure if the sun came out, we'd be roasting, just like we were last year. Luckily, the sun didn't come out until well after the race was over so to me, it was almost darn near perfect racing conditions and I'm kind of glad it rained to be honest: we were wet but not soaking, it was warm but comfortable.

Hammy, oh my hammy

I could definitely feel my hamstring the whole race but it was more of a sore feeling rather than painful feeling so I decided I would just try to run at a decent pace and if it got worse, I'd just scale it back. Of course, just like every other race, I looked at my watch too much at the beginning and wondering if I was running too fast but this time because I was worried what effect this was going to have on my hamstring. And, just like every other race, I eventually decided to ignore the watch and just run by feel. Mile two was a pretty rough mile for me mentally and at one point I wanted to walk. My hamstring was achy but no more achy than it was during my warm up so it wasn't getting worse, I was just tired and I'll be honest, 5Ks suck and are really my least favorite distance… BUT then I kept thinking about Elijah and how he keeps fighting so I used that motivation to keep me going. I told myself to I could slow down, but walking would only be a last resort and only if my hamstring was telling me to.

Unexpected pacer

My friend's husband knew about my hamstring issues and knew what a big deal this race was to me so before the race began, he asked if I wanted him to run with me so he could keep me motivated. He's a competitive runner who is just coming back from long-term injury and I knew he wanted to see how well he could do so I thanked him but said I would be ok to run on my own and just get into a zone. The XC mom who joined my team this year is an experienced and pretty fast runner, much faster that I am. She has been running for over 20 years and has several marathons under her belt. Luckily she's in an older AG so she's not my competition LOL but definitely is a lot faster. We lined up together at the starting line and I had decided when she got ahead of me, I was going to try and keep up with her or at least not let her get too far out of my sights if my hamstring would allow it. Sure enough, she and I started out at the same time and for a brief time I was ahead of her but she ended up taking the lead and I knew if I could at least not let her get too far ahead, I might have a shot at a decent time so she became my target, never knowing she had become my pacer.

The finish

As we headed out of the residential area across the main road and down the final stretch to the finish, I knew I didn't have much longer to go and by that time I almost felt like I had just a little bit left to give. My hamstring was achy, I was tired, but it was the finish and I was still running!!! Plus, the street is always lined with people cheering and I knew my family who did the one mile walk and the family members and/or friends who finished the 5K before me would be there too so I decide to see what I had left. Imagine my surprise when I turned the corner and saw the time clock still in the 24:00's. Are you serious? Did I really did just race my goal race? Bum hamstring, tired from no sleep and all?! With only seconds to spare before the clock turned 25:00, I remembered Elijah, the race, and all the things it meant to me and put everything I had to crossing that finish and sure enough, official time was 24:46… a mere 3 seconds from my course PR! As I sit and type this I still can't believe I did so well, not with all the odds that were stacked against me.

Post race

Since this race doesn't have live results like my other races do, we always stay for the awards. My brother-in-law is a competitive runner and usually does really well in his AG PLUS this year I decided to schedule our team picture for AFTER the race rather than before because it's always such a cluster before the race. Also, the XC mom and my other friend are competitive runners too and I knew they would be interested to see how they fared. And I'll be honest, last year I surprised the heck out of myself and won 3rd female OA cancer survivor and knowing my time per my Garmin was only seconds off from last year's time, I wanted to see if I placed again. We eventually met up with everyone and walked over by the stage to wait for the awards. My hamstring would give me fits causing me to limp at times but if I kept walking around, it would get better, so that's what I did.

After they announced the awards, we got our team picture taken and some of us decided to go out after for celebratory drinks and lunch (a ritual of ours, even if we don't win anything). None of us won anything but by the time we got back to our cars, the results were posted. My friend, the XC mom, PRd and came in 4th in her AG and even though they only gave out 1st male and 1st female cancer OA cancer survivors rather than the top 3 like they did last year, had they given out the other awards, I would have placed second with a time only 20 seconds behind the woman who was awarded first. I also placed 5th in my AG, moving up in the ranks. Sweet!

Final thoughts

While I didn't make my time goal of a sub 24:00 5K, other goals were achieved making 2017's race a huge victory regardless of what the time clock said. In three years, I've gone from 21st in my AG to the top 5 and this year was 6th OA cancer survivor, 2nd OA female cancer survivor, and was 203/1834 OA. Lastly though, the biggest goal was just being able to cross that finish line, come hell or high water, for Elijah. And I did it!! What a great day. Yep, rain and all.

This race sealed the deal on my opinion of 5Ks and that they are really my least favorite race distance. I know I was tired from lack of sleep and I know I was having hamstring issues but regardless, 5Ks are pretty dang tough and with everyone one I do, I like them less and less.

Thank you to everyone who supported me for this race. Whether you made a donation, joined my team, encouraged me not only when my hamstring issues started, but encouraged me in general, or cheered me on from afar, you definitely made my third race-aversary one of the most memorial races of my lifetime and I could never have done it without you. Of course, my biggest thank you goes to my friend, Elijah, for being my inspiration from day one as I prepared for this race. His attitude, grace, and fighting spirit is truly amazing and I could not have picked a better person to dedicate this year's RftP too.

The Gathering Place will accept donations through the end of June for the RftP so if you are interested in helping me get closer to my $1,800 goal, click on this link. As always, thank you for your support.

Splits

8:07, 8:43, 7:59

Race stats

Chip time 24:46

5/91 AG

203/1843 OA

6/125 OA cancer survivor

2nd OA female cancer survivor