Unfortunately the meterologists were all predicting rain for Sunday. I think I stalked my Weather Channel app on my BlackBerry a million times on Saturday. Saturday night I made a nice carbo loading dinner of chicken marsala, whole wheat pasta, and roasted zucchini. Shortly after dinner and watching District 9 it was time for bed so we could be up at 5:15 am. Sure enough when we got up Sunday morning it was raining, not a downpour, but a light rain. I then ate my usual pre-run breakfast of a whole wheat english muffin with some natural peanut butter on it and a tall glass of water. I was praying the rain would stop by the time we got over to the race location, but of course it didn't, and it was so cold, only about 51 degrees and dropping, but by the time we finished the race it was about 40 degrees. The parking lot was a nightmare and completely full, we drove around for another 10 minutes looking for parking. Walked through the rain, and found the port a potty lines. Our friend Dana loaned me a rain jacket windbreaker to run in, but I was still cold and wet, and this was before the race even started. By the time we got out of the port a potties, the race had already started, so the announcer was yelling for all half marathoners to go because they were going to reset the timing for the 5k. So we missed lining up in our corrals, missed the gun going off, and were 4 minutes late crossing the starting line, thankfully our chips only started timing from that point.
The rain was coming down and I was cold. I had on my gloves, but the rest of me was still chilled, even though I had on pants, a tech tee, and the windbreaker (which was zipped up), oh and a baseball cap to keep the rain off my face. The first mile we booked it. Tony wanted to take off, I kept checking my Nike+ and it was saying we were going at about an 8 min/mi pace and even sub-8 at times, I knew this was too fast so I asked him to slow down. It wasn't soon before I had to walk. Between mile 1 and 2 there was a hill, not super steep, but a gradual incline. I couldn't do it, I had to walk. Tony got annoyed with me and my walking so early, that he said he was going to go on. And so he went. I was a little perturbed because we had agreed to run the race together. The first water stop was at 1.5 miles, I definitely needed some, so I walked on through and drank my water. I saw Tony ahead of me, in fact I kept sight on him up until about mile 5, he was only about 30 seconds ahead of me. There was lots of walking though. I would run a little bit, and then I would slow down and walk for a bit, then go again. The rain was really coming down and the temperature was dropping. At the mile 4 aid station I downed my Chocolate Hammer Gel and a cup of water. Mile 5 was pretty darn long. Mile 6 had us run through a park and we crossed one of the sensor strips at the halfway point. I was thrilled just knowing I was halfway. Over the course of the race my Nike+ was overestimating by about 0.07-0.15 miles, it would tell me I had completed a mile before I got to the mile marker.
At mile 7 I got a second wind and decided to kick it up. I ran until mile 8, and at the aid station there I had my second Hammer Gel, a Vanilla Bean one this time. Somewhere around mile 9 or so I looked down at my fingers (I took the gloves off around mile 2), and my wedding rings were super tight on my super swollen finger, so I decided I needed to take them off. I had a small zippered pocket on the front of my pants, so I put them in there, but it was so hard to try to take them off and get them in there safely while trying to walk and with the rain pounding down. Plus, I freak out when I don't have them on, I always panic and think I lost them. I was a nervous wreck with them in my pocket, even though it's zippered, I was still paranoid they would somehow fall out, so I kept reaching down to check to see if I could still feel them in my pocket. Plus, my stupid left shoe kept coming untied during the second half of the race, I had to stop to retie it 3 times! Mile 9 took us through another park, and another aid station, this one I walked through and got some Gatorade. After that I got another wind and started running again. I ran for a bit and then slowed and walked until mile 10 or so. Then came the final stretch and the battle in my head. I kept telling myself, okay, when I get to mile 11 I will run the last 2 miles. Couldn't do it, I had to run and then walk some. Then when I got to 11.6, I told myself, okay time to run the last 1.5 miles. Couldn't do it. Then I said okay, just run the last mile and you can finish in 2:15:xx. I still couldn't do it. Finally, I made the deal with myself, I could run the last 0.50 miles. At that point I could see the mile marker for mile 13. I picked it up then, I pushed my Nike+ to play my "power song" which is Melissa Etheridge's "I Run For Life" and I booked it. As I rounded the curve after mile 13, I could see the finish line and Tony and Dana were standing on the corner with their finisher medals on waiting for me, I waved, they waved and cheered and Dana motioned me to keep going and run! So I kicked up even further and started sprinting, and then crossed the finish line!! Immediately a volunteer handed me my medal and I walked off to find some water. I grabbed a little water bottle and then went to find Tony and Dana. We perused the refreshment table and I grabbed 2 sandwich cookies and half a banana. My legs felt like Jello and just kept shaking. I was shivering. It was so cold and I was completely soaked. Every inch of me. My feet were sloshing in water. I felt terrible and wonderful all at the same time! My body ached, but I was just so happy and proud of myself.
After chowing down our little snacks and using the bathroom we headed for the car. We brought towels since we knew we'd be soaked. I stripped off my wet jacket and hat and shirt and dried off a bit and put on my warm sweatshirt I had left in the car. I was so worried about Tony though because he was shivering pretty violently and he didn't bring any dry clothes. We turned on the heat full blast and headed home with a quick stop at the Starbucks drive thru for some hot drinks to warm us up inside. Once home I was first to take a hot shower and relax. It felt great to warm up and be out of my wet clothes and shoes. After everyone had showers we settled in to relax and have green monsters and some other snacks/lunch and watch some TV. I also began icing my sore left foot and took two Advil. The rest of the evening was very low key with more icing, a nice dinner of filet mignon, baked potatoes, California blend veggies, and a glass of wine.
Today my foot is still sore, it's also pretty swollen, I'm still icing it and taking my Advil. If it doesn't improve by tomorrow or Wednesday I will go see my doctor. This afternoon I'm going to the spa and getting a one hour sports massage, facial, and aromatherapy foot bath. Race results were finally posted and overall I'm pretty pleased with myself. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I finished and surpassed my goal. My original goal was to finish in about 2:30:xx, but in my head I thought I could probably finish around 2:15:xx. Official results from my timing chip said I finished in 2:21:53. I was at the halfway point at 1:08:59 and for the first half of the race my pace was 10:32 min/mi. I slowed down for the second half of the race though and my pace was 10:50 min/mi, overall I came in 789 out of 1500, and 49th out of 66 in my age group (25-29), and 314th out of 764 for the women.
My Nike+ ended up underestimating at the end, it said I only ran 13.03 miles and I waited a couple seconds after crossing the finish line to turn it off, but overall I think it did a pretty good job of being mostly accurate.
Even though this race was pretty miserable given the weather, I still love the runner's high and the sense of accomplishment afterwards. I'm feeling pretty hardcore today knowing that I ran in those conditions yesterday. Next race is April 2nd, it's an easy 5k on base and I am hoping to run it in sub-30. Thank you all for all your support and encouragement on my journey, it has really touched and inspired me to keep going and do the very best I can and I couldn't have done it without you!!
