SPCA 5k

I thought it was awfully bright when I woke up. Probably because it was 6:56 AM. The race started at 7:00 AM. I rushed into the bathroom to pee, grabbed my clothes and the phone rang. Knowing it had to be KC, I just said "I just woke up!" and we hung up. I ran downstairs, realized I didn't have on my contacts, and hesitated. I definitely needed them. So after putting them in, I was somehow out the door, wearing my flats and singlet, and in the car. I hit every green light, miraculously. The whole time I was thinking "they shouldn't wait for me, they shouldn't wait for me, I hope they wait for me, they shouldn't wait for me."

As I turned the corner onto Princess Anne Street from Lafayette, I could see runners lined up 7 blocks down. The clock on my car said 7:01. I'd been awake for 5 minutes. Google says that is 2.7 miles (about 10 minutes.) I went from bed to curb in 5. Definitely illegal. I drove 4.5 blocks down to park in front of Capital Ale House before deciding I couldn't wait any longer. I parked badly, jumped out, tied my shoes, and took off with my keys in my hand. I didn't start my watch, and then forgot to start it when I got to the starting line. AFTER passing the starting line, I had to turn back to get my chip. I ran up to the table and frantically told her I was #2 (Because oh, I forgot to pick up my packet yesterday at the store. Go me!). She told me to wait! She gave me my chip, I threw it on and took off. Again, I forgot to start my watch. People around me knew who I was and what was going on, and I got a lot of words of encouragement.

I was literally the LAST person to start the race, as you can see from the picture next to me. I am between the person on the left with the stroller and the person in the middle with the dog. I did some weaving for the first block or two before realizing that the sidewalk was the place to go. Ironically I thought last week about how road races aren't run on sidewalks, so that's how I justify running in the streets all of the time.

I really wish I'd started my watch. On top of having to run an extra 2.5 blocks to get to the line, I was rolling. This wasn't like the Civitans 10K in 2005 when I was using the bathroom when the gun went off and I took my time to catch the lead pack. I was not running smart. I must have run under 5-minutes for the first mile. I couldn't believe all of the people that I was passing! I recognized so many of them! It was a blur though, I don't even remember some of it.

I caught Mike Brooks at the mile mark. I asked him his split, 7:17, and started my watch. I still couldn't see anyone that I knew in front of me, least not anyone really competitive. I kept going but was exhausted already. There was a big pack of people going up the hill on Riverside Drive, so I thought I should get in front of them. I passed them on Normandy and realized that Bob and Nick were within reach. I don't know when I passed them, but it was before the 2 mile mark. I ran the 2nd mile in 5:25. Pretty weak. But I thought, "Hey, I'm still catching people!" But that was the end of me passing people. Despite the crowds cheering for me going the opposite direction, my adrenaline was spent and I was fading. No warmup and a blazing first mile were too much for me. I did pass 488 people in those two miles though.

I saw Justin, Terry, and an unknown in front of me. Once we got to Old Mill Park, I tried to figure out who was in the lead or what was going on. I saw a couple of red uniforms and figured they were Matt and Scott. I saw the lead bike, so I knew Tim wasn't in the race because he would have likely been out-of-sight by then. I couldn't count the runners though, so I didn't know what place I was in. The last mile I was struggling. I probably could have caught the guys in front of me if my legs were warmed up. Though it was probably already 90 degrees with really high humidity. I was trying my hardest though. The third mile was slower, 5:35, and then I practically jogged it in with a 40 second last 0.1. My time was 18:19, the same time I ran for the triathlon last week. So at least I'm a consistent 5k runner, right? When I saw my mom cheering for me on the sideline at the library, I felt pretty bad about not being there on time.

If I pretend that my first mile was 5:00, then I would have run 16:42. However, had I been in the race and not just running from behind, I imagine I would have been able to run more even, especially if I'd warmed up. But the results say 18:19, so that's what I'm going with. I got 9th place, 2nd in my age group behind Justin, ahead of Nick. As I finished, I couldn't help think about how I'd told Justin I'd like to finish in time to come back and see the two of them battle-- little did I know I'd be in the middle of them, literally! Someone from VA Beach won in 16:35 I think... I'm sure I could have handled that if I'd been there, but I wasn't, so... Evan was 2nd, then Matt, Ted, Scott, Justin, Terry, someone else, me.

Afterwards, I was pretty tired, but really just hot and my stomach hurt from not really getting to use the restroom before. My legs were a little sore at the start of the cool down (or my warm up), but within a hundred meters I was fine. I ran with the guys until I found Tricia Balwanz and then turned around to finish with her. I didn't know what to say to encourage her to go faster. I couldn't very well say the same things used to say to my dad or Pat or anyone else. But it was nice to see her out there and hopefully she had a good time running. Then I went back out and ended up running for a half-hour with Scott. I probably should have gone another 5 miles after that, but I was surprisingly upbeat about the whole thing. I didn't even know I'd gotten 9th at that point.

Several hours after the race, Scott and I went to lift. I guess I've gone maybe 5 times now. I need to start writing down what I'm doing so that I can try to lift as much or more as the previous time. If not, I'm at least having fun. I lifted more on the bench than I have previously, but we're doing more weight for less reps each set this week (according to Bob). I thought about doubling, but after spending the rest of the day out at the pool, I'm calling it a day. I did, however, at 5:20 PM find out why I missed the race when my alarm started going off on my cell phone. Stupid me set it for PM instead of AM. I'm sure that's not the first time that has happened to me. I need to be more careful. That's why I have my morning run alarms pre-set...

Well this made for a good story at least. It would have been a better story if I'd won the race. But maybe next time. My next planned 5k is the Mental Health race, two days after I get back into the country in July. I don't expect a big performance that day either.