It was a funny race, so I had many opportunities to laugh and smile. There was a much bigger 4-mile race that started the same time and course as the 15 K for the first 2 miles.
The 4-mile was pretty much flat, and the 15K had a brutal hill portion through Glen Oak Park. I don't like hills and hills don't like me. I usually silently pray a Rosary and a Divine Mercy Chaplet to start off longer runs (and races, though this is only my second long race this year), and I was just finishing up the Fatima prayer for one of the decades while heading up the first hill, and heard myself in my head saying, "save us from the fire of hills" and then laughing out loud. Strange looks from the runners around me.
During the Glen Oak Park portion--two loops of the same hills and flats-- I walked through the gatorade station to rehydrate and rest a little. On my second time through, I asked one of the gatorade distributor volunteers (what are they called?) to take a snap with my iPhone. I asked him to be sure he got my headband since my 9-year-old made it by sewing on little silk flowers to one side of it. He said, "Don't you want me in the photo, too?" because this station was manned almost entirely by beefy high school boys--perhaps a football team. Probably not the best idea to ask them for help. No, Mr. High School Boy, I don't want you in my photo! But thanks for making me smile again.
But no! After the race, as I was milling around looking for water and fruit, people are drinking beer! At 9 a.m. in the morning. And keep in mind probably about 70 percent of the people had finished before 8 a.m., since they were doing the 4-mile. Yikes! I told a friend I ran into there that I want a beer tonight, not 9 a.m. Hmm. Fortunately, there was still a little fruit left and water of course.
The course was very hot but very shady because it went through older downtown neighborhoods that were once grand but now a bit faded. I was grateful for the shade. On the last mile the course passed our local Cathedral. It was beautiful to see it while running past:
Finishing the race was also funny. Other than a little walking on some of the hills, I kept a fairly steady pace. For the last 3 miles of the race, however, several runners around me kept passing me and then walking or slowing down so I would pass them. And I kept thinking, I'm pretty sure I'm not varying my pace here, especially since I'm not walking. There was one 20something girl, very cute, who kept passing me and then having to walk. She was probably thinking, I can't believe I can't run faster than a gray haired lady (Remember, though, I'm going for the "cute LL Bean/Lands End gray-haired model" look, not "your grandmother" look. Perhaps she was confused). I wanted to say, honey, I've been there, but don't worry, you're running and that's fantastic! Do not compare yourself to the people around you. I remember when I was about 19 or 20, on a family vacation on Martha's Vineyard, and while runnig one afternoon being passed by a man way older than my dad (who was in his 50s at the time). I was so sad and told all my sisters when I got back, and they happily laughed at me, but my mom said, "Oh honey, at least you were running."
Anyway, we were nearing the finish, and the 20-year-old girl was passing me and falling back, etc., I was coming up on an older man.
I remember this vey funny article from Runner's World magazine about a runner blowing past an older man at a race finish, and the embarrassment that ensued, I thought, that won't be me. But I really felt about 100 meters from the finish that I could sprint (for me). So I kind of started but then held back, and the announcer (who was announcing all our names as we passed near the finish), said, "Go for it! You can go faster!" And I thought, oh, what the heck. So I did it, and I finished ahead of both the older man and the 20 year old. Not that I'm keeping score or anything. Then there was the beer, and more laughing and smiling. I still have my beer tickets, by the way.
I finished in I think about 1:57, which puts me at well under 13 minute mile pace. Yay me! To me, slow, slow runner, I am amazed and awed, because of the hills and the heat. I think the crowd helped me to run faster and I so enjoyed it. I had thought I would come in about 2:10, perhaps later; the course was open for
I would really like to do more long races, because it gives me such a boost.
Great race recap! From one slow runner to another: Way to go on the time!
ReplyDeleteI, too, feel so much better after a long run than before.
How are you able to keep track of a rosary while running? All I'm able to concentrate on is breathing!
I really enjoy reading race recaps. So cool that you could take some pictures along the way. How funny that the young gentlemen wanted to be in the photo too.
Way cool to run past the cathedral!
I remember that article. Way to push it in the end.
I would have had at least one beer ... for the carbs, you know.
How many people ran the 15K?
Hills.... yes, hills are a part of all my runs. No way getting around it here. (My house is at the highest elevation of the town)
You rock Nancy!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys! It was so super fun, and I was inspired by Cheryl to write race recaps because they're so fun to read.
ReplyDeleteThis is perhaps one of the reasons I'm such a slow runner-because I multi-task? But the rosary has always been a part of my running, since I was a pre-teen, and it really helps the time go for me.
I think about 800 ran the 15K? And thousands do the 4-mile.
I did have a beer at home, that night. And it tasted better than it would have in the a.m. No one is convincing me otherwise.