race day

So, on Saturday I had my 5k race.

I woke up at 5:30 and couldnt' get back to sleep (the alarm was set for 6:00am). I got up putzed around, and got dressed. My stomach was a ball of nerves. I had planned on eating a half of a peanut butter and jelly sammie when we got to the race site. I knew I would need to eat before then so I forced down half of a banana. Here is my...i'm eating and I'm nervous face....

We got to the park, and were extremely early. I picked up my race chip, and walked around, stretched and went to the bathroom like 10 times before the 5k started. Prior to the 5k starting, about 100 women took off on a Half Marathon! About 20 minutes after they left, the 5kers lined up. I got behind the 12+ minute mile sign. The gun went off and it took me about 45 minute to cross the start line....and I was off...

It was hard for me to get my pace at first. My pants were a little loose and they kept sliping off until I started sweating enough for them to stick to me. Gross right? Anyway....It was interesting for me to run a course I've never run. It was so much easier to no worry about how far I had gone, or how long we had been running when I didn't know distance. I also didn't wear my watch. I was feeling pretty good through mile one. The course didn't have mile markers, but I had studied the race map relgiously, so I had an idea of where the mile markers were. Right after mile one we headed up a small hill. Post hill there was a water station...I remembered from the race packet that the first water station was supposed to be at mile 2. I thought there was no way that I had run 2 miles already, and that i didn't think that mile 2 was until further down the course. I had a gulp of water and threw my cup on the ground feeling like a real runner. At this point I was feeling tired. There was a group of three women in front of me and two women behind me. Both grous were run/walking and we kept passing eachother.

I wasn't too familiar with the course, but since I could see several people infront of me, I wasn't too worried about going the right way.....before i knew it there was an arrow on the ground (i'd been following them all along) but this one had the word "finish by it" at the point we re-entered the park and i knew i only had about half a mile to go. I fought every urge not to walk.

But I didn't. And I ran across the finish line!

The clock had 1:00 hour on it. It didnt' take me an hour, the 1/2 marathon had started 30 minutes prior. I was doing the math and realized It had only taken me 30 minutes! I could hardly believe it......

A volunteer handed me a medal, and took off my race chip. I was still in disbelief about my time. I was truly expecting it to take me 40 minutes. But...I didn't think about it too long and i was so proud of my self for not walking at all...


After the run Scott and I had a picnic with his parents. A ham sandwich at 9:30am has never tasted so good....

So....later that day, I was anxious to see what my race results would be, and I knew that they would be online at spondoro.com.

My chip time was 27:56. Meaning 8:59 minute miles. I was in disbelief. I pulled up the PDF of the race map and realized that there was no way we had run the whole course.

I was still feeling good about my race, but had a nagging feeling about my time and the distance. last week my practice 5k took me 41 minutes. No one cuts that much time off, even if they do run the whole way. I told my husband and he reassured me that even the first finishers had come in super fast. I formulated the theory that the course had been mismarked.

Today, I started feeling a little down about the whole thing. It's just not possible to run sub 9 minute miles on Saturday, when you were running 13 minute miles on Tuesday. While I was in the shower, my husband called the store that sponsored the race. They confirmed that "the course had either been mismarked, or the participants took a wrong turn." Damn.

I feel so jipped! I was so nervous about this 5k and I truly feel let down. I am proud of myself for signing up for the race and going and being prepared to run the whole thing, and running the whole distance regardless of how far it was...but I wanted an authentic time and authentic race.

It's ok though, I'm going to sign up for another local race that is in September. It's also a 5k. It's a HUGE race, literally 10,000 people (women only again) in the race. to have a timed race, you are supposed to be able to run a 35 minute 5k. So....that is my new goal. Aim for a 35 minute 5k in my training, increase my speed and endurance...and try again.