This is the lovely start/finish line which I could see from the car while we were frantically trying to find a place to park so I could go check in. I had no idea there would be SO MANY PEOPLE. I should have known, it was a FREE race, right? I called my friend and she offered to pick up my race number and chip and meet me because she was over at the check-in area already.
How to explain my feelings pre-race.. maybe mixed? I don't really get nerves, I had teammates who used to get sick and puke, run their mouths and talk and joke, or wander around and shut out everybody. I was meeting up with two of my Ragnar teammates that I'd already met at the first meeting, and several other running buddies of theirs. We introduced each other and then fiddled around with our music players while waiting for the announcer to start the race. I was trying to figure out the shortest distance to the front through people, there were so many runners we were all in a chute starting, so our group was at least 200 deep, probably more.
The hardest part is probably waiting, because by the time I got my number and stuff, there was only supposed to be five minutes before the race start. I of COURSE had to run and pee, and again of course I had to get in a line behind someone that took almost 5 minutes to get out of the port a potty. Fortunately, everything was running a little behind, which meant the gun didn't go off till 8:45, instead of 8:30.
I remember thinking - how the heck am I going to get through this huge crush of people, but when the race started, I stopped thinking and just ran. I had to kind of weave through and around people constantly until I went around the first turn, but after that, people were spaced out enough that I didn't feel like I was tripping on runners' heels and banging into the back of anybody. Also, another cool thing is this race used a chip attached to your shoe that started recording your time when you crossed the start line, so being stuck in the crush at the beginning before the start line didn't count against you toward your total time.
I felt good for most of the race, there were always people around me but not a lot, and there were also always people ahead that I could watch to see where they turned on the course. The streets were closed for the race, so most of us were running down the middle of the roads, and people who lived along the street were all sitting outside watching and taking photos. I had printed a course map to look at when I registered, but I really couldn't remember where the streets were in the course, and the mile points were not marked. I found out after that the water station for the race was at the 1.5 mark, I'm still not a real good judge of distance, so I would have had no idea. I usually estimate my distance I've run based on the time passed, but that didn't help me on Saturday because I ran much faster than any of my training runs.
The last half mile or so I tried to speed up more, I kept a pretty constant pace but nearer the end there were fewer people and they were more spread out, so I'd zero in on one person and see I was running faster, so I'd try to pass them... and once I did, move on to the next one. At the VERY end I started feeling sick almost, but the finish was RIGHT there, so I just kept going... and then thought I might puke! I figured, oh well, if I do it's not like the crowd there had never seen a runner puke. Turns out I was able to just walk a little bit and then I was fine. They wanted their chip back right away so they could log the time, so once I felt like I might not be sick, I went to one of the race volunteers so she could cut off my chip/tag thing.
As I was running in, I saw the time on the clock and I THOUGHT it said 24 something, my muddled brain didn't catch much more beyond the 24 and it was just jammed up there in wonder. I had been shooting for 26, or if possible just LESS than 26, 27 would be approx a 9 min mile avg and I just wanted to run faster than most of my training runs. Right after I finished I saw one of my friends so I went over to congratulate him, he finished maybe at 23:40 he said, so he saw me finish. Then we waited for our other friends to finish.
I figured I'd stick around for the awards and I went over to where they had started posting up the times and finishers, it took quite awhile because there were really a lot of people. There were still people finishing for at least an hour after I finished, maybe longer. Some of my friends left, I went and grabbed some snacks so I could share them with my daughter while we waited. I didn't really expect anything at this point, I just wanted to enjoy the whole 'race experience'.
WELL... it turns out that I got a second place medal for women for my age group (I'm 36) with my time of 24:20, which is a 7:51 avg mile. I also came in 26th for women. My husband said he was pretty sure I would get something in the awards because the majority of the people that came in ahead of me were men, and the women that came in ahead of me were super young - the first three women finishers were all under age 18 lol. This is where it pays to be an old fogey, I'm telling ya.
This is me and my daughter after the finish
This is me and my friends after the race outside IHOP =P with my lovely number and medal
I am still in love with running. What a fun return to the competitive world =D
March 12th 2011 Arrowhead Medical Center 5K
http://www.resultsbyprimetime.com/RESULTS%20PAGES/MAR11/ARMC/armc_run_age_11.htm#35-39 Female
