They say that two nights before a race is when you should get your best night of sleep. Two nights before race day I slept like hell. I couldn't shut my brain off and when my body was finally exhausted, my hypothalamus decided to play a cruel joke: HOT then COLD and then HOT and then COLD. It wasn't until somewhere between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. that I finally fell asleep. I woke up around 8:00 and tried to force myself to fall back asleep and finally gave up and got out of bed around 9:00. I definitely felt the affects of no sleep because all day I felt like I was on the verge of being a raging bitch. On top of that my legs ached and I absolutely hate having that feeling the day before a race. After going to lunch with my mom and sister I kicked back and read and elevated my legs.
Friday night I slept a little better but woke up Saturday morning still feeling pretty tired. The sleepiness wore off pretty quick after pre-race jitters kicked in. (Yes, I still get them for even a little 4 miler!) I went through my normal race morning routine and my co-worker, Chris, showed up at 7:45 to head to the race. We hung out in his truck [and worked on getting down to "race weight" ;) ] until we started our warm-up around 8:15. During the warm-up my legs felt a little flat but as I started my stretches they felt loose and limber. After running this long, I've learned that when my legs feel like that it is usually followed by a good race. I put it behind me and just continued my warm-up. I finally hit the start line and was ready to go!
Chris (next to the white jersey) and I after the gun
My race plan was to run 5:50 for the first mile and then try to drop the pace from there and have an average pace of 5:46-47s at the finish. Luckily, they had a 1/2 mile mark so I was able to check my pace and make sure I didn't take off like a bat out of hell. I went through the half-mile at 2:55. PERFECT. The pace didn't feel too hard and I was running comfortably. I attached myself to the back of a pack of about 6 men that I ended up running with for almost the entire race. We went through the mile at 5:50. PERFECT, again. I was feeling really good and happy with the first mile. I went through mile 2 hitting another 5:50. The race was playing out great and my confidence was high. Through mile 3 the pace started settling in my legs. The pace was starting to get a little harder but I was determined not to let the guys drop me. We lost two guys between mile two and three and were down to a pack of four. We hit the 3 mile mark in 5:49. Triple PERFECT. At this point I thought to myself that its only 1 mile. 6 minutes. GO TIME.
We started to push the pace and myself and two others broke away from the pack. I had run the course once before and remembered going past a park and being close to the finish. As we passed the park we simultaneously made a surge. There was a left turn, a straight away and a right turn until the finish. We made the left turn and I honed in on the finish. I went passed the last two guys and never looked back. I was currently first female and had a lead cyclist who road with us the whole way. She rode about 10ft in front of me so I decided I would use her to pull me to the finish by trying to beat her to the line. I turned the final corner and saw the clock at 22:5X and made my last and final push. I wasn't sure exactly what the seconds read but I gave it everything to try to break 23:00. I was a little further out than I thought and crossed the line at 23:07.3. I had no real expectations for the race so I was more than happy with my time! Not to mention my average pace was a 5:47, which is faster than my 5k PR pace (5:51). Had I run that for a 5k I would have run a 17:55, which would have been a 12 second PR! Naturally, I want to run a 5k to make my sub-18 official!
Coming into the finish!
As I flew down the straight away pushing as hard as I could, I couldn't help but think how much I enjoyed this feeling. The burning feeling in my legs, the sick feeling in my stomach, and the ecstatic feeling that I just killed that race. It is races like these, and the pure joy of competition, that makes me totally addicted to the sport. I ran in college but didn't have a very successful "career". I went through a point where mentally I was very weak. I gave up all too often when a race got too hard. I feel that now I have a lot more fight; a lot more drive. I don't give into the pain, but, instead I now try to make it hurt worse. I want to push myself to the absolute limit. Although, I hope I never get there because then where would I have left to go?!
Check out the RACE RESULTS here!
Race on!
Train. Race. REPEAT.
speeeeedy!!!!!!
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