Wednesday is yoga day and aerial yoga day. And today, it was race pick up day too. Performance Running is a great company with a few stores in my area. Everyone there seems to be very knowledgable both in experience and in the products. They have never made me feel weird because I’m a beginner. I’ve found the running community to be very welcoming overall, and the employees of this store are no exception. Pick up was easy. Got checked in with my bib, then off to get my fleece, and done. Of course, I had to do a little perusing. After talking to someone about the merits of salting watermelon, I got some Gu for my long runs, including the salted watermelon flavor.
In class, we focused on gratitude. It was very restorative with only a few “power” moves to get the blood moving. Of course, I snuck in some runner’s yoga too. After all, I had my first race on Thursday. I had a wonderful surprise. One of my first yoga “students” came to class. I was bookended by my first and most recent students. I felt extremely blessed and honored that these people choose me to help them with their yoga practices. Both are extremely kind and wonderful people. I really don’t like to call them students. I would like to think of myself as more of a guide or lead for them to develop their yoga. It was a great way to start Thanksgiving weekend.
Thursday was THE DAY! I’ve been training to increase my distances but this was my first race. I started running in spring and I was about to run 5 miles with a large group of people. Wednesday night I put lavender in our humidifier and it worked like a dream. I slept like a rock till the dog woke me up for the morning pee. After our little adventure outside, I went back to bed, setting the alarm, drifting back off to sleep. And suddenly bolt awake! It was too light out and I felt too rested. My alarm didn’t go off! I was running ten minutes behind. While shoveling a light greek yogurt in my mouth, it occurred to me that the alarm was set for Saturday, not Thursday. I took a shower to wash all the anxiety away, well, most of it. After getting dressed and not pestering my boyfriend too much with “let’s go,” we were on our way thru the city to the Lake. Lake Michigan is a fickle neighbor. You never know how windy it was going to be. Or if a sudden rain storm or snow will begin.
Thankfully, we got their 45 minutes early. I tried to convince my boyfriend we needed an hour but compromised for 45. I like to be early, get the lay of the land, and get comfortable with my surroundings. To be honest, 45 min was just about right since I had already grabbed my bib. There were lots of people. Some serious looking runners to a teen dressed up in a bacon costume. We walked thru the avenue of PortaPotties to the starting line. I did some dynamic stretching while observing everyone around me. Boyfriend and I checked out the runners in matching costumes and tried to avoid the runners with see thru running tights. I do not need to know you are wearing a thong.
Shirt I wore
It was time to get in the corral. A man over the loud speaker insisted that walkers start in back, competitors in front. I tried to position myself in the middle. There was no “GO!” or starting pistol, just a throng of people moving forward. Some people were jogging, others walking and the speedy people were trying to make it to the front. I had started my Runkeeper and my Garmin but the race started a few minutes late, so their evaluation of me was a little off. I tried to keep to my pace but everyone was passing me. Bacon passed me. Turkey Tutu Twins passed me. Inflatable Turkey passed me. And I abandoned my pace. All these people couldn’t be passing me and me be going at my planned pace of 11:00. I had to be counting wrong. I found out later looking at my stats it was just everyone rushing. I knew that there were going to be people passing me but I didn’t expect that much. Eventually, I just settled in and did my best to keep jogging. I didn’t want to walk. I can jog 9.5 miles, so I can certainly do 5 miles. As I settled in, I found I had misjudged the race course and there was a very large hill. That hill took people out. But I kept going. I heard retching behind me and other racers on the side, hands to knees. I passed Bacon and the Turkey Tutu Twins. I passed very athletic looking people. I was in my head and my head was in my ear telling me I was in over my head. But I reminded myself I did this twice a week. I had trained for this and longer. I felt confidence and my legs grew more steady. Some people were still passing me. There was a 5k option and it was hard not to turn in. I was tired from my fast start. The wind was stealing my breath. I reminded myself I can and will do this. And no walking. I will finish. I think that’s when my training set in. I saw more and more people struggling on the side of the trail. There was my boyfriend driving by waving, cheering me on. I started counting again. Piano lessons and a metronome came to mind counting out meters. One guy would speed pass me and then be winded at the side. I ran behind a girl high stepping for a while. I heard a group of guys ask when the fun starts and I yelled behind me “With the cinnamon rolls!” And I made the turn and started my last leg. I was feeling my legs, there was no disconnection. I felt each footfall. My stomach started to flip flop. Apparently, my yogurt was not enough. I hadn’t stopped for the water, maybe I should have. The last leg felt long. Very long. The sprinkles had turned into a full on rain and my shirt was plastered to me.
Picture boyfriend took.
And then I saw the PortaPotties. I felt hope re-engergize me. I found that last push. I crossed that line feeling strong and nearly in tears. In spring, this never would have been possible. I couldn’t run a mile in spring. And I just completed my 8k race. The joy and pride was overwhelming. Not only that, there was a delicious cinnamon roll in my near future. My end stats were 54:39, which I think translates into 10:55/mile. I was 463 out of about 600 but there were some that didn’t make it in time before the course closed. Boyfriend insists I was in the middle and I should be kinder in my head to myself. He is probably right. :)
Pre-Race
Post race
My friends and family have two main responses. Half think I’m crazy. Heck, I would probably think the same thing of someone last year. The other half just tell me how proud and amazed they are. And the truth is that I think most have a mixture of the two. All I know is I am thankful that I did this and then got to enjoy three Thanksgivings with loved ones.
Happy Thanksgiving!
More to come. I have Saturday and Monday to recap. And will have a Tuesday too. Stay tuned tomorrow.
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