Race To Cure Lymphoma

This was my first 10k (6.2 miles). A couple days before the race I spoke with the coordinator and was under the impression there was a 1:20 cut off time. The problem with this is – I often run a 13:24 mile. This would put me a couple minutes past cut off. That would mean I would see a big DNF after my name at the end of the race. Did Not Finish. Now I know I’m not fast. But I just tell myself I’m still doing better than the people sitting on the couch I actually run a faster pace. But my  mind and I aren’t agreeing right now and I take 30 seconds here and there to walk. I don’t need to walk because of my legs or my breathing. I don’t really have an excuse. This is why I blame my mind. I think running a long distance is just as hard mentally as it is physically. I have the physical part down. I just need to work on the mental part :/

After I learned about the cut off time I did what any girl would do. I called my support system (girlfriends) seeking advice and cheerleaders. I was shocked when Olivia said, “I think I’ll come up and do this race with you.” Um?? What?? Didn’t she just run 4 miles for the first time only a day ago? Yes. Yes that is true. She started running 5 weeks ago. She was up to 4 miles and then just on a whim decided she’d like to do this race. Okay Olivia. I was really excited to have her come up!! She runs faster than I do – so I knew we wouldn’t be running together. That is really okay too – since I don’t do much talking while I run

Night Before

These races often happen quite early in the AM. So I was trying to get everything ready the night before. My clothes, my food, my music, my hydration. You name it – I wanted it ready. Olivia was here and we also had to consider where we were getting ready. We didn’t want to wake the girls up at 6am. So we had a game plan for dressing/eating/brushing teeth.

I had all of my clothes ready. It was supposed to be several degrees cooler than I had ever ran in before – so I broke out my new blue drifit Nike shirt. I also bought a Buff Band. That is the black and white camo looking thing. It proved to be super useful! I wore my pull over to get to the race – but didn’t need it for the actual race. I never used my gloves. But I have a feeling I’ll have them on this weekend.

We woke up race morning and it was about 42 degrees. Liv and I got out of the house without any issues. It was actually a beautiful drive there even though we were crazy nervous

Most of you haven’t been to a running event. So let me fill you in on a yucky little secret. Your body has an idea of what it is getting ready to do. It also is slightly clued in that there aren’t bathrooms every 100 yards on the run. So from the moment you wake up – until you start running (and even sometimes after that) you gotta go!! When you arrive at these events you will see tons of port-a-potty’s. This particular event was quite different though!! Since we were running around the outside of The Mills, we were able to go inside and use real toilets with real sinks. And as a bonus – it was way warmer than 40 inside Olivia and I made a couple trips in and out of the mall getting ready and deciding which gear we wanted to run in. The sun was coming out and it wasn’t too windy. Even though it was chilly, we didn’t think we would need lots of layers.

Once we felt we were done hitting the mall and had our clothes figured out we headed over to the starting line. You can see the police officers. They had the intersections blocked for us so we didn’t have to pay attention to the cars or street lights while we ran.

I had noticed some green shirts mixed in with everyone and it became quite clear who they were. They were the survivors. The people we were running for.

Olivia and I grabbed a couple pictures before we lined up. We didn’t have a fan base at this little race so I didn’t have anyone to man a camera. We used my phone and I think it did a pretty good job. Can you see the nerves??

There was a balloon release. Then a prayer. Then the National Anthem. This wasn’t a huge race, but it seemed to be bigger than previous years. There were 321 participants in the 5k and 207 in the 10k. We all started at the same time. I encouraged Olivia to move up away from me in the pack. I knew she ran faster than me and I didn’t want her too bogged down with slow runners and walkers. So we waited. And after a few seconds the pack began to move!

Here we go!!!

I ran the first mile and a half and was feeling great! At this point there were still plenty of people around me. I was feeling pretty strong and was congratulating myself on my wardrobe. Everything was feeling good. I wasn’t too hot/cold. I had never ran in the long sleeve drifit shirt before. It is a little slick and my hydration belt did slip in the front a bit. Nothing that was too hard to deal with though. I LOVED my buff band. You can see it under my visor. It is super lightweight but it kept the wind out of my ears and the sweat off of my face. Excellent purchase! My shoes were feeling good. I also loved my capri/skirt. Super comfy and stylish It is also drifit technology. When you sweat – it pulls the water away from your skin. This is huge because wet fabric against your skin will chafe! And that is no good! Chafing leads to bleeding which is never fun especially while you are running.

When I took my first little walking break I kept reminding myself that I had to get going again FAST. I did not want a DNF!! I was able to pick up and keep going. There was a band playing and a couple water stations along the route. It was a 5k loop. So we lost many of the runners after the first pass. I did get a little panicked when I was coming in from my first lap. I wasn’t sure where I had to run/turnaround to go back out for lap 2. I pulled my earphones out and yelled “WHERE DO I TURN AROUND???” One of the volunteers heard me and pointed me in the right direction. Whew!

Now on to lap 2. I was still feeling pretty good. The wind did pick up and I was alone. I could see a few people in front of me and so I thought I’d turn around to look behind me. EUREKA!!! I was not last! I just had to keep this pace up for 3.1 more miles and I would at least not be last! One of my DailyMile friends gave me some advice the night before the race. He told me, “Meagan, here is some advice I got when I first started running. If you want to run faster — run faster.” Thanks Patrick! He wasn’t being a smart@ss – he was just telling it how it is.  The whole race all I kept thinking is “run faster run faster run faster”. It was a balance between not injuring myself for this weekends race and working to beat 1:20. I got to mile 4.5 and started noticing the police and volunteers more. I pulled my earphones out again and began to tell these people “thanks” as I ran by. I’m not sure it is what they wanted to be doing first thing on a saturday morning but I really did appreciate them!

The miles kept passing and I kept feeling strong. I was rounding the last corner before the long straight away and there she was!!! Her medal hanging around her neck! Olivia was walking back to find me. I knew she would finish before me – but I didn’t know she would come back to get me. She ran with me until I decided to “sprint”. Now this was probably just a really fast jog for Olivia – but she let me sprint it out. The volunteer about a 100 yards in front of the line was encouraging me to go faster, “There are two more right behind you!! Go Go Go!!” And I did! I had seen them back there earlier… The last thing I wanted was for someone to sneak in front of me right here at the finish.

The Finish

When I crossed the line it read 1:17:03. My Garmin read 1:17:00 and 6.25 miles. We were running on a full wide 2-4 lane road. So it is very possible that I added that .05 mile while changing lanes and sides of the street. There is a chip behind the number you see on my shirt. It triggers when you cross the starting line and triggers when you finish. In this race there was a man with a paddle at the end that swiped my number. I assume he was the one “ending” my race. So my official time came back at 1:17:07. Perfect!!! I beat my goal of 1:20. I ran faster consecutive miles in this race than I had ever ran previously. I was so proud!! And Olivia was a ROCKSTAR!!! She had never ran over 4 miles and was able to keep her regular 10 min/mile pace for the entire 6.2!! Excellent work! Her time was 1:03:17.

And the costumes. Since this race was so close to Halloween there were costumes of course! I considered dressing up – but then thought there wasn’t anything funny about cat ears or a bunny tail finishing last I didn’t need to call any extra attention to myself This viking lead the race on a bicycle. He came around cheering for us throughout the race.

And Buzz was there! He kept pace with Olivia for a quite a while!

In closing… I loved it! It was a flat course. A beautiful morning and I shared it with one of my best friends! I can’t wait to sign up for next year!

My splits (All better than 13:24 – Yay me!!):

1- 11:42

2- 12:11

3- 12:36

4- 12:25

5- 12:36

6- 12:47

.2- 2:43