Davidson Run For the Green 10k-9/21/2013

I mentioned a week or two ago training for a local 10k and running the preview course(you can find that post here) During that preview run, I managed to run my fasted 10k, in 1:04:16. I was looking forward to this race, in hopes of coming close to that time officially, so I could submit it for my upcoming Disney races for better corral placement. The last official 10k time I have is from last October, when I ran one in 1:09 and change. Now that's still a decent time but for the "girl" oriented races like the Tinkerbell half or the Princess half, this is still rather middle of the pack. I did fine running in the middle of the pack this year, so perhaps it's a pride thing, wanting to be in an earlier corral. Just having an earlier corral on my bib was something I dreamed of. I will admit though, I had no idea this race would turn out the way it would(dun dun dun, foreshadowing). On Friday evening, I had a party to attend. Now remember guys, I'm 30, so when I say party, it doesn't involve drinking or dancing. It involves Pinterest and crafting. I did manage to pump out this beauty for my front door, pretty proud of my creation.

During my party night, I made my wreath, and I ate. I ate a lot. And it was all junk. Not exactly the best pre-race fuel. There was pizza, there were cookies, pumpkin cake, apple crisp, lots of fall goodies, and I ate it all. I did stay away from the soda and kept hydrating with lots of water. I tried to leave early, but I didn't end up getting home until midnight. I still had to get my race stuff ready for the following morning, since I didn't want to go rustling through the house at 6 am and chance waking up children, leaving a very unhappy husband. I didn't end up in bed until after 12:30, making the 6am alarm call rather unpleasant. But my choices had been made and the alarm went off at 6 am. I got up, drank a smidge of coffee, my Carnation Instant Breakfast, I took my Energy Bits and made sweet love to my inhalers. Here's another problem that I had run into before the race. Last weekend, my two younger daughters developed a lovely cough. No fever, just crud, but I caught it. I fought it hard during the week, pumping myself full of water and vitamins and by Friday, I still felt on the verge of getting sick. I wasn't officially sick, I'd wake up with a sore throat each morning, and had the smallest cough, just enough to make things annoying when running. I made it through my short training runs but the 3 miles I did Thursday evening had me a bit worried, as I had that little tickle I couldn't shake. I was worried so I started with my inhaled steroids and rescue inhaler that night. Friday I still felt a bit rough, but thank goodness when I woke up Saturday morning, my morning congestion wasn't there. I left my house at 6:30, race time was 7:40 and it was local. I met up with the local MRTT girls who were running, most were running the half marathon, but a few of us, including a fellow Princess in training(also going for proof of time), were running the 10k. The weather was a bit warmer than it had been earlier in the week and it was a tad muggy, but still somewhat comfortable. We did the usual group picture, the half marathoners started at 7:30 so we have time to line up and wait before we started with the 5k runners. At 7:40, no gun, no bull horn, just a shout of "GO!" and we were off. My goal was to keep up with one of our MRTT leaders, Heather(you can find her blog here), who runs at a slightly faster pace than me, for as long as I could. I stayed right behind and as we hit the first mile, my Garmin told me I had run it in less than 9 minutes. I "prefer" to stay at 10 minute miles and call that pushing it and normally when I see this kind of pace, I tell myself to back off, that I will kill myself early and really slow down after the first 3 miles. But I was in a different mindset yesterday. I decided not to back off early. I knew I was facing the uphill climb back up the Patrick Johnston hill, so I figured it would be best to keep going faster than I like to, until I hit that hill and was forced to slow down. I got the first 5k in, and was still moving in record time. I broke my personal best for the 5k by a minute. It was at this point when a thought entered my mind, something I never thought would be possible. One of my worst habits is short changing myself. Months ago, when I got left in the dust attempting to run with the main group of MRTT girls, I resigned to never being "fast" and was ok with it. But I kept going and I started keeping up with them. I always underestimate what I can do, and it's a pleasant surprise when I do do it. Another thing I never thought would be possible was a sub one hour 10k. I've seen others do it plenty of times, I figured I would be able to get down to 1:02, but never under an hour. Hitting the halfway point yesterday at 28 minutes and change, I started to wonder if it would be possible after all. I started calculating numbers in my head, where I'd need to be for each mile to get there. I was hot and sweaty by this point, but in the zone.

Somewhere between there and mile 4, I passed a very special woman, someone I'd been looking for. Her name is Margret. She was doing the half marathon and she is 90 years old. Yes, 90. A year younger than my frail little grandmother. She is the world record holder for being the oldest person to complete half marathons on all 7 continents. She did finish yesterday. Amazing.

As I passed her, I clapped for her and she smiled at me. I felt renewed. I doubted that this woman had ever told herself something wasn't possible. So why should I tell myself that a 10k in under an hour wasn't possible? I kept going. I passed water stations, not wanting to slow down. I reached the hill I had been dreading and I plugged away going up. I knew I was going to slow down and as I climbed by body, especially my lungs, screamed at me to stop. I had started wheezing and as I got to the top, I hit the first time ever when running that I'd wished I had my inhaler. I coughed things loose and kept running. As I hit the 5th mile, I noticed my music had started over. I have enough songs in my playlist to ensure that this doesn't happen. Music is a huge mental "thing" for me. I NEED my most beloved tunes to keep my mind going and I did not want to hear the same song twice. Sorry Selena Gomez, nothing personal. I kept running as I fumbled around with my armband and got tangled in my headphone wires trying to get new tunes going. I shut down my Nike app and found a song I could deal with on repeat for the last mile, put my phone back, untangled myself from the wires once again, and kept running. I was coming up on 56 minutes with a half mile to go. I knew I would have to speed up even more to get in under an hour, so I picked up the pace. My legs were dying but my spirit was not giving up. I hit the 6th mile and knew the finish line was close when I hit it. A hill. Seriously? I have to finish this up hill? While less than pleased, I kept pushing. I saw the finish line and and the gun time clock was ticking, 59:40, and climbing. I got closer, 59:50, 51, 52, 53. I crossed the finish line at 59:56. I tried my best not to completely burst into tears. My eyes filled but I held off crying. I realized that at the beginning of the Patrick Johnston hill, I had passed Heather. She didn't pass me again, meaning I finished before this woman that I have been trying to chase for a good year, even if she was taking it easy. She crossed the finish line less than a minute after I did and she was so proud of me for having done a sub hour race. We drank our water and our chocolate milk and waited for the half marathon runners to finish. I was beyond elated. There I was, fueled by pizza and assorted baked goods from the night before, with less than 6 hours of sleep, breaking a time goal that I hadn't even made because I didn't think I could come close. I couldn't wait to get home and download my splits.

You can see the mile that involved Captain Johnston, and it is still faster than normal. This just means I've been holding back. I've been told I should reevaluate my half marathon goals, and I think I will. The biggest thing for me is purely not liking to push myself. I don't like being uncomfortable and going all out. I want to keep something in my tank. But after yesterday, seeing the payoff of pushing myself to the point of misery, it definitely seems worth it. Final results were posted last night, and my chip time was a tad lower, officially 59:46. I've already submitted all of this new info to runDisney, natch. I came to the realization that if estimated finish times break down in a similar fashion to this year's PHM corrals, this time is good enough for Corral A. Me. A Corral A runner. As hard as yesterday's race felt, the idea of that makes up for it.