Run, Jason, Run (My Experience at the Race for the Cure 2012)

So, Friday I ate pretty well, didn't go too crazy.  Was really thinking about the race the next day and preparing for it well.  I really thought I could get under 37 minutes for the race, although I would be happy with anything under 40, honestly.

I even got to sleep early, nodding off almost as soon as the Celtics game was over (side note...why are you trying to thread the needle on difficult passes with a 15 point lead...just make the easy pass).

I woke up a mess, though.  Just a crazy bundle of nervous anxious energy.

At 4:30 am.

I tried getting back to sleep for awhile, and did, but was definitely up for the day at 5:30.  I took a nice long shower, got everything together, and started getting ready to go.

At 6:30.  The race started at 10:05.  Yay.  I wanted to get to the fairgrounds around 9, and I was already ready to go at 6:30.  And FREAKING THE HELL OUT.  So I made myself a small, quick breakfast of a piece of toast and a scrambled egg and killed some time.

Around 7:45 I got in the car and headed to Rite Aid to grab some energy chew things for the race, to have while I was doing my walking breaks.  Rite Aid opens at nine.  I ended up at the Kinney Drugs and was able to find something.

Still freaking out a little, by the way.

I ended up at the fairgrounds around 8:40 or so, and walked in.  First thing I did was head for the bathrooms and quite possibly made that poor bathroom stall uninhabitable for the rest of the day.

Yeah, my stomach was a little...umm...well...the Edmund Fitzgerald wouldn't have made it through those waters either...

I ran into some work friends (Tim and Julie) and stopped to chat for a bit, then Terrie and Stacey.  I met up with Mike and Heather in the front of the Center of Progress building.  We hung out for a bit, watching the yahoos warming up on the stage, then found a nice grassy spot to do some stretching of our own.  Mike showed me a couple good stretches to try, and we lined up for the race.

This is where the wheels started to come off for the planners, in my opinion.

When you line up for the race, the runners line up according to their per-mile pace.  I lined up pretty far back, figuring around a 12-minute pace, which is what I've been doing.

The walkers were SUPPOSED to line up on the intersecting road, leaving the main road for the runners.  EXCEPT NONE OF THEM DID THAT.  There were over 1300 or so runners, I believe.  At least twice that number walking, from what I saw, as well.  They were all interspersed among the runners.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were lined up at or very near the front.

Mike, Heather and I all wished each other good luck, and they moved up farther in the starting area, as they are significantly faster runners than I.  I got my music started (I always try to start with "Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder...not sure why...just really like that one), got runkeeper ready on the phone, and waited for the bell.

They sent us off, and it took me at least 3 minutes of walking through the miasma of walkers to get just to the starting line.  But I couldn't even start running there, not yet.  Waaaay too much traffic from the walkers. In fact, I'd say it was at least a good two-tenths of a mile in before I could even get to my normal running pace, and throughout the whole race I wasn't able to keep that pace up without bobbing and weaving through the walkers.  A 5k is 3.1 miles, I actually ended up running 3.14 miles, just from dodging all the people throughout the race.

My plan was to keep the routine I had kept recently, run for 10, walk for 2, 10, 2, 10, 1 then run to finish.

After the first ten minutes I slowed down to walk, which also happened to be right at the first water station, a mile in.  I decided to pass on any water, but via all my dodging through traffic, I had managed to end up right next to the water table.

And I almost got taken out.  By a woman walking.  She had started on the other side of the road, and just turned and walked perpendicular to the flow to get to the table.  THEN SHE LOOKED AT ME TO GIVE ME A DIRTY LOOK when I almost had to do a diving tuck and roll just to avoid getting plowed by her.

Sheesh.

Once I picked up running after my two minutes, it was time to move out of the fairgrounds proper and into the parking areas along State Fair Blvd and Interstate 695.  The sun by that point had really cranked up the temperature, a much higher one than I had run in during any of my training sessions.  It had an effect, definitely slowing me down somewhat, and I was losing pretty much any hydration I had achieved pre-race.  I grabbed water at the next station about 1.5 miles in.  Still passing walkers...shows you how many had lined up waaaaay ahead in the pack...I had run for roughly 1.3 miles of this route or better, and was still passing walkers, including one group that was like 8 wide walking arm-in-arm across the entire roadway.  It was with this water station that I learned that running and drinking at the same time is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO PULL OFF.  Seriously.  I was holding the water up to my face with one hand, and trying to just smash my mouth into the cup in hopes of ingesting some of the splash while running.  I'll probably stop to drink next time.

At the end of that 10 minutes I walked for only a minute thirty, this time remembering the energy chew things from Kinney's.  Evidently 'Energy' tastes like 'Regurgitated Dog Feces' to the people making these things.  Yikes.  I won't be bothering with those particular ones again.

At the end of my next ten minutes, I was around the 2.5 mile mark...well behind my training sessions.  It was hot, I was STILL PASSING WALKERS, and feeling a little dehydrated.  Evidently my 'smash mouth into cup while running' method hadn't worked out very well.  There were some positives.  I've had some cramping issues with my training sessions.  No cramps in this race.  I also had been keeping pace with an older gentleman who seemed to be doing a 3 minute run/30 second walk type routine, and he and I ended up going through almost the entire race within 10-20 yards of each other.  It felt like I had a running partner, somewhat.

So, after a 30 second or so walk, I was determined that I was going to be at least AROUND my training times, so for the last quarter of a mile or so, I picked up the pace, and when I rounded the last turn towards the finish line (STILL PASSING WALKERS, FOR CHRISSAKES...THIS TIME ALSO PASSING RUNNING YAHOOS THAT HAD TURNED BACK AROUND AFTER FINISHING AND WERE RUNNING BACK DOWN THE ROUTE...IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD...), I decided it was time to really try to move quickly.  I moved up into full-on fat-guy sprint.  It must have been a sight.  Like the dog from Turner and Hooch bearing down on you.  If there were any small children near the finish line, I apologize for the nightmares you'll carry into your adulthood from seeing that.  It had to be all arms and legs and rolls and slobber flying everywhere.  Mike assured me that I didn't look like a complete moron.  Mike was just being nice, I'm sure.

As soon as I crossed, Mike (having already finished...his head shining like a lighthouse of hope...the hope of water and rest...and I mean that in a totally not-gay way, not that there's anything wrong with that...) was right there and ushered me to water and a shaded area to rest.

Mike, Heather and I hung out in the shade for a while, rehydrating and commiserating.

I had finished the race.  I had set out to do it, and did it.  In 37:47, which ended up being pretty much right on my training pace.  I wasn't even last in my division.  I was 35th.  Out of 37.  But hey, it wasn't last.  Numbers 36 and 37 were each quite a ways behind me.  And if I was in the 75-79 year old female division, I would have DESTROYED those bitches.

We headed back to the cars, and met back up at Dinosaur Barbeque for some well-deserved greasy food. It was possibly the best greasy food I have had in years.

I can't wait for the next race.

(Post-race crazy hair...Mike decided to point it out...had to take a picture.  I think it's more jealousy that I have such a beautiful thick mane of luxurious hair.)