Yesterday marked a milestone in my life. The Azalea 10k. That's 6.2 miles of timed running around the Azalea District near Bergfeld Park. Red brick roads, some asphalt, beautiful houses, my police office friend on his bike keeping us tricky runners in line and giving me a hard time for walking. I never imaged ever doing this in my life. Running a race? Me? Psssh. Running races is for crazy people. Apparently, I'm not too far behind them now. I didn't run to win. It was more of a "get to know the race atmosphere" kind of thing. Well worth it!I arrived around 7:30 and found my running buddy who also had some friends from her gym running in the race. We took some pre-race photos to document the milestone. My first race and another girl's first 10k.
They called for the line up and we squeezed in close up front. You could feel the energy all around. I turned my music on and let my heart rate monitor register my heart rate. It was chilly and damp. I was sort of bouncing in place to warm up a bit while trying not to bump into anyone. I failed of course with the bumping into folks. I was mentally prepared and obviously physically prepared except for a possible knee pain that I knew could potentially rear its ugly head mid course. I took precautions Friday by foam rolling, soaking in an epsom salt bath, not wearing heels to work and taking an ibuprofen to ease inflammation. Saturday morning started with no pain or stiffness. I was ready! We were only in line maybe a few minutes. Or at least it felt that way. Everyone scrunched up to the starting line then we were off. We were off faster than I had figured we would be. This was real now. We had crossed under this huge metal set up that started our chip time and on were our way down a nice easy hill to start.
Most training runs start with me in the lead and my running buddy behind me. She has a shorter stride and is actually much better at pacing herself than I do. I'm typically faster with longer strides but this time she was setting the pace. It really shocked me. Hahaha! (All kidding is in the name of love.)
People were passing us left and right but we were ok with that. This wasn't to win. It wasn't to get ahead of the pack only to end up walking and being passed up later on. There are people running six minutes miles nonstop in this race and I wasn't there to compete with that. Close to the bottom of our downhill a girl passed us asking if everyone was ready for the uphill looming ahead. That was a resounding no. No one likes running up hill!
We pushed through the hill and turned the corner for a tiny incline that would be followed by another nice downhill when my police officer friend rode up beside me asking what I was doing. Running a race of course! (You have obviously noticed I remain vague with names. I do it to protect privacy unless I am told it's ok to use names.) He rode ahead and we started the next downhill. Number one running buddy said she wanted to run two miles nonstop before we took a walking break and I agreed. Runkeeper told me we had reached the one mile mark with an average pace of around nine minutes per mile. Wooooo! But where was the mile marker? We weren't sure but kept on.
That's when I realized...uh oh...Runkeeper you fail! About a half mile later we passed the one mile marker. What the?? I knew I was having GPS issues at the starting line. I guess it never righted itself. Ack! That one mile didn't go by near as quick as I had thought but oh well. I had that two mile goal to shoot for. Screw you Runkeeper! I'm blowing this run out of the water!
The two mile marker loomed ahead and we made the decision to keep pushing to the 5k mark. My running buddy could see a 5k PR in her future and wanted it bad so I said, "Let's do it." (That also meant a PR for me too. Heh heh!)
Our pace was ridiculous! Runkeeper said we were still in the nine minute range. (That has ended up being grossly miscalculated but whatever.) It was still ridiculous. We were trucking, passing people (being passed as well), and taking no prisoners. That three mile marker was in our field of vision and we were going to blow past it. We don't have an official time but we estimated somewhere around 34 minutes for the first 3.1 miles. That's huge for us! My typically time is somewhere around 36 or 37 minutes on my training runs.
We stopped a little after 5k for her to impede some toe numbness then we were off again. I wanted to eat our mid run snack at mile four but I was running out of steam so we consumed our gummies around mile 3.5 then took off again for mile four.
Mile four was around a corner and there before us was this ridiculous hill. Ridiculous! Did I mention it was ridiculous? Because it was. The long string of people before us were all walking. Walking! It was like looking at the aftermath of a battle scene in a movie with the field littered with bodies and the few brave soul left standing walking amongst the carnage surveying the damage. Those few brave souls were actually a couple of dads pushing strollers in this race. They passed us up at a slow jog but moving ahead nonetheless. I wanted to bow and yell, "We are not worthy", but I was being timed afterall. Every second counted.
We reached a leveled out place in the Hill of Death and took off running again but I didn't last long. My knee was starting to hurt again and I hadn't brought my heart rate back down enough to sustain a longer run. I wanted my running buddy to beat last year's time so she took off without me, knowing I'd most likely catch up. And I did though maybe I shouldn't have. Lol!
We ran together through the five mile mark giving her a PR over her February five miler by around two minutes! But I couldn't sustain the pace. I had to stop but she kept going knowing another PR for her 10k was looming before her. Just 1.2 miles left. I took a quick break then pressed on again. "You've got about a mile left. You can do this," I told myself. I often mentally encourage myself close to the end of training runs to help me finish strong. I wanted to run nonstop for the last mile but my knee and quick breathing combined with the knowledge of knowing I'd have to run up the hill to finish that was at the beginning of the race led to my decision to take another break. This was only after I had trudged up a pretty steep hill that many people chose to walk up. I even got applause for pushing through. It felt great!
A few more twists in the course and there was it. The finish line. I could see it about a half mile away. All that was left was a beautiful downhill then that horrid uphill followed by what I estimated was the .2 to the finish line. Ok. Here we go.
I took the downhill slower than usual to catch my breath. I really wanted to run up that hill and across the line without stopping. Running is a mental game you play with yourself. So, I started up the hill and got about half way before convincing myself that I could take a quick rest then run up it some more to save energy for a sprint across the line. Yeah. That sounded good.
Then there was the six mile marker. The last .2 miles was flat. I could finish strong. I took .1 at a normal pace to gear up for my strong finish. As I got closer to the finish line I could hear Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger" blaring over the loud speaker. Awesome! Time to pour on the steam!
And my knee was hurting...bad! I knew immediately today's long run would not be happening. But that didn't bother me. I had just finished my first race ahead of my goal and I wasn't dead last. I had survived!
The final results were finally posted last night. My time from the gun was 1:11:08 but my official chip time...get this...it isn't much but it sounds way cooler than 1:11:08. My official chip time was 1:10:59. Just under 1:11. Hey hey! I was the 352nd person to cross the line out of 487 runners that were listed on the official finisher list. There may have been more but who cares?! (And look how bad Runkeeper treated me on this run. It says I ran over seven miles. Really...)
My first race is officially under my belt and I'm kind of addicted. I may never win my age group but it's the thrill of beating your own time...every time.
Next week is a local 5k. Come out to Chandler near the new elementary to cheer on your local runners. Every little bit of encouragement along the course goes a long way. It may sound cheesy but we appreciate cheerleaders.
The daunting task of my half marathon is looming before me. I'm excited and nervous but ready for the most part. It's what I've been working so hard for and it'll all be worth it.
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