Racing roundup

I couldn’t help but be a little nervous before the 5K race on Saturday, but mostly about silly little things like finding the right place to go and making sure I attached my bib number so it wouldn’t bug the hell out of me during the race. This is just how I am — with everything. I know the anticipation is always the hardest part, and I knew I’d be fine once I started running, so I just tried to enjoy the experience as best I could. I found some good advice beforehand that said to really soak up the experience if it’s your first 5K and remember to have fun. It also pointed out that no matter how you perform, it’ll be a personal-best time if it’s your first race, so I really tried to go into it with that mindset.

We met friends for dinner before the race and then killed time with them before we all headed downtown so I could warm up. Once we got downtown with all the other runners (and I got the bib attached properly!), my sense of nervousness went away and I was ready. I stretched and warmed up and then took my place near the back of the pack around 8:25 p.m. The race began at 8:30.

The start was a bit like a herd of cows in a corral, each of us inching up gradually as more people crossed the starting line and made room for us slower folk to begin. Once I crossed the starting line, it was a bit chaotic as I tried to find my pace while also attempting to figure out which of my immediate neighbors were running and which were walking. Things sorted themselves out within a half-mile or so, but I was afraid I was losing valuable time during that stretch with having to dodge so many people.

I finally got into my rhythm within that first half-mile, and right then, one of the race organizers gestured wildly and yelled out, “Everyone to the right! Everyone move to the right of the road! The leaders are about to come back!!” Holy hell. Here I was not even 5 minutes into my race and the leaders were already winding their way back! (Incidentally, the winner’s time was 14 minutes and 34 seconds. I’ll remind you that my time was 33 minutes and 59 seconds.)

We headed toward the back part of the course, and I have to admit that I don’t remember much about the course in general, as I was very into my thoughts as I ran. I noticed certain spectactors along the way — the 10-year-old girl who was yelling, “Run, boys and girls!” at us as we passed, for example — but for the most part, I was focused inward and concentrating on the job at hand. The encouragement from strangers, however, was very motivating.

I didn’t want to, but I had to slow down to a fast walk when I reached about 2 1/2 miles, but I knew that I had two choices: I could either do that and have enough left to finish strongly, or I could continue running nonstop and have nothing left at the end. So I walked briskly for about 50 feet before picking it up again and making my way to the finish line. I was excited to see The Husband and Baby B near the finish line (the friends who were there cheering me on were at different points throughout the course to take pics for me), and thinking about all of them being down there to support me really got me through that last half-mile. The clock read :36.46 when I finished, but the race uses chip timing since it has more than 3,200 runners, so my actual time was :33:59, well under my goal of 35 minutes.

I met up with everyone after the race, then went to grab my water and banana and chatted with them while I cooled down. It really couldn’t have been a better night for running, and it was perfect that we were running into a slight cool breeze during the last half-mile. I still think I could have hit my 35 minutes if the humidity had been present, but I’m glad that wasn’t an issue. For this time of year and in this part of the country, it’s a minor miracle that we weren’t dealing with that bit of misery.

I figured I would be emotional after finishing the race after spending all this time training for it, but that wasn’t the case. When I finished, it was a huge rush of knowing that I completed a project with a job well done, with a bit of relief and a sense of confidence on the side. I was, however, surprised by how emotional I was before the race, and I actually started crying when it came time to hug everyone before going to the starting corral. I can’t even fully pinpoint why I was crying, but I think mostly because I was so happy they were there to see me do something that even 6 months ago I never would have imagined doing. I am not a runner by nature — it takes a lot of hard work and determination on my part — so to reach that race was a huge accomplishment for me.

In some ways it was harder than I expected (trying to dodge people and having to look out for people who just randomly stopped in front of me without moving to the side first), but in most other ways it was easier than I expected (for those times when I needed to push myself harder than my normal pace, it was easier to do when I had other people around). I definitely learned that I need to walk through water breaks if I’m going to actually drink something. There was a water table at the 2-mile point, and my plan was to just use it to cool myself off, so I kept running once it was in hand, but then I decided to take a quick drink to wet my mouth, and it didn’t go down as easily as I had hoped. I’d already received advice to walk through water breaks in the half-marathon as a good mental break to allow myself to regroup, and this just reinforced that notion.

The great thing about this race was that I never once felt out of place, despite not being a natural runner (and despite nearly choking on water! LOL). There were people there of all fitness levels — unlike the nearly Olympic-level runners at my 3K — so I never felt like I didn’t belong there. That’s something that The Husband noticed, too, and it has given him the confidence to think about running the race himself next year.

You’ll find me on the sidelines, holding Baby B on my shoulders and cheering him on, just as they did for me this year. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Well, I guess I could have. But I wouldn’t have wanted to do it without them.