I really felt like my whole race started getting derailed last night. I guess I didn't realize all the planning and prep someone needs to do before a race and all those articles for first time racers really didn't help at all. Around 9pm last night I was setting out my clothes, shoes, and ipod and read in my final reminder email that the final trolly from the parking lots picked up at 6:15am and it was recommended that all participants arrive at the starting area AT LEAST an hour before the race begins.... GRRREEEAAAT... so I took at quick shower, took a final inventory of everything that needed to get in the car with me come morning, set the alarm for 4:30am (YES, 4:30am - yeesh) and got to bed. Of course, in true Edith pre-big-day tradition, I did not sleep AT ALL. I literally stared at the ceiling until the alarm went off. Dawson and I popped out of bed, got dressed, heated some waffles, fed bear, grabbed all our stuff and were in the car by 4:45am. We made it to the assigned parking lot by 5:30am. Here we faced a line of about 250 people ahead of us waiting for a trolly ride to the race location.
So here I am waiting for a trolly at about 5:45am...
direct quote from Dawson, "It's way too early for this crap"
I have to agree.
So after waiting about 40 minutes for a trolly, we FINALLY boarded and made it to the race location around 6:30am where we met up with a few friends who were running the 5k as well. At this point I was SUPER tired and had downed a 5 hour energy and a bottle of water.
Teneille, Me, and Juno waiting for our race to start.
Here I am around 7am... just waiting... and ready to run!
We heard the national anthem and got to see the 1/2 marathoners start thier race - this is when I really started getting nervous and excited. Thank goodness for Juno and Teneille - they calmed me down and got me focused!
This was our view - we were about 3/4 of the way back from the front when we got lined up.
And we were off! There I am in the white hat,
blue long sleeve top and black leggings towards the center.
It took us a whole three minutes to get from where we were in line to make it to the actual starting mat. Once we actually got going is when it got interesting. In the majority of the running articles that I had read, they had recommended that new runners stay towards the back of the pack as to not get tangled with the more seasoned runners. WRONG. HORRIBLE ADVICE. This was a run/WALK 5k... and guess who I got stuck behind for about 75% of the race. Yup. Walkers - old, young, slow, slower, large, larger... don't get me wrong - I am happy that all these women are taking an interest in thier health and doing something challenging like a 5k, but do you really need to walk 6-wide? Oh and ages 6 and up were invited to participate so there were mother/daughter teams walking together... HOLDING HANDS. So, within about the first 6 minutes of the race I had my first collission... I ran into a very young girl who dropped to the ground to pick up a GU pack that someone had dropped... collission two: a mom holding the hand of her 6 or 7 year old were jogging in front of me and decided to STOP and take a drink from the water bottles they were carrying.... collission three: a woman at the bottom of the bridge who went from a full sprint down to a slow walk... collission four... some lady who STOPPED running right BEFORE the finish line... seriously? Who STOPS right before the finish line? Crazy!
My training totally did not prepare me for all the extra energy I was going to use to just navigate my way through the crowd. I was already running on close to empty when I started, but I figured I would keep a 13-14 min pace for the first mile and a half then kick it up to about an 11 minute pace to finish but between the walkers, heat, and bridges I was just worn out.
Not the most flattering picture but I was really
trying to haul bootay to the finish line. As you can see I was also carrying my long sleeve top at this point... I swear the temperature had shot up 10 degrees while we were running.
Once I made it across the finish line (and around the woman who just stopped, I exchanged my time chip for my medal! I then grabbed a few freebies - some muscle milk light (which tasted horrible but really made me feel a lot better after running in that heat) water, and an ironman/powerade beverage. I noticed that the Ironman/Irongirl brand is growing quite strong. This weekend we received Iron Girl protein bars in our goodie bags when picking up our race packs.
Here I am with my freebies and my medal!
I stood in line and got my unofficial time - which later I found out was my official time. Again, I'm not too happy about this so I guess I will just have to sign up for another 5k and beat this time!
What a morning! All before 8:30am I ran over 3 miles, and had been up for 4 hours. It was definitly an experience! I walked around a bit but was not feeling too well (Dawson thought it was due to lack of food and was not liking the idea of standing in line for over an hour for "free food") so Dawson and I drove out to St Pete and had breakfast at Skyway Jack's then headed home where we both took a well deserved nap on the couch.
All in all it was a good day, but not what I expected. The lack of sleep, not so great breakfast, bad positioning in line, and skewed training... I will chalk it all up to a learning expereince and do things a little differently next time... well for the next COMPETITIVE event anyway. I am walking in the March for Dimes/March for Babies 3 mile walk on April 30th. I've got a link in the right top corner of my blog. Feel free to donate to this great cause, join me in my walk, or find a walk in your area!
Happy trails & comfy running shoes...
XOXO
Edith
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