I was torn as to what to do. I could probably set a really good personal best time running the 5K, but would I feel good about that? I could run the 10K and finish it, but what if my time wasn't very good, would I feel discouraged, which would lead to slacking off on running because I wasn't happy with what I had been able to do? I knew that whatever I did, it had to be my decision, but the problem was that I didn't know what my decision was going to be.
Friday night before the race I drove home (my parents were going with me to the race and my mom was going to do the 5K) and told my parents that I was going to switch to the 10K race. I wasn't sure what would happen, but I was going to give it a try.
When we got to the race location, I told the people at the packet pickup location that I wanted to switch races, and they said it wouldn't be a problem. That was the easy part. I got my bib on, my timing chips tied to my shoes, all my warm clothes on, my iPhone to track my distance and also for music, and I was ready to go.
The nit before the race it had snowed some, so the roads were lightly snow packed. That was one factor working against me already because I had never trained on any other pavement except dry asphalt. There were other people that would make me unconsciously try to keep pace and that might wear me out quicker than I would at my own pace, so another problem. All in all, I was scared I was going to fail, at least in terms of my personal goals for the day.
It was a small race, only 44 people in total running the 10K, and I started in e back of the pack. I didn't want to feel stupid if all the people passed me and I was dead last. I figured it would be best if I just started there.
To my surprise, when the race started, I was able to focus on my own pace, get into a groove, and get moving. And I was actually passing people. I was feeling pretty good, and the snow on the roads wasn't giving me any problems. I was feeling great. That's when I realized that the course wasn't quite what I was expecting. There were hills, and not small hills; hills that had long, steep inclines as well as some a pretty steep downward drops as well. I was feeling ok, but it started making myself freak out about the hills. What if I couldn't make it without walking a lot? What if I was the last one to finish? I would look stupid, at least in my eyes. But I was able to continue. It hurt. I used a lot of muscles that I don't normally have to utilize, and that was worrisome, but I continued on. I was determined to walk less than 5 minutes total the whole time.
I was tracking my distance with my phone so that I knew how much father I had to go, and when I realized that I was almost done I got a little more pep in my step. I wasn't overly familiar with the course and the end point kind of snuck up on me. I finished hard, with my parents cheering me over the finish line.
When I got stopped and caught my breath, I saw that my phone was giving me an unofficial time around 1:08:30. I had estimated my time to be about an hour and five minutes, but with the hills and snow I was feeling pretty good about that time.
I grabbed a drink, dropped my timing chips into the bucket, and went inside (the race started and ended at an elementary school), and went to look at the official time sheets.
I was shocked. My official time was 1:02:34 and I had come in 4th in my age division. I was only a few minutes away from the person that finished 3rd. Shocked didn't even begin to cover how I was feeling.
What a great first race experience, and skipping the 5K and jumping strait into a challenge was exactly what I needed to kick start my running again. I am fully engined and ready to make the push for the Indy 1/2 Marathon in May. I know it will be hard, but I'm going to do it!
The picture is of me and my Mom before my race started.
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