The weather was less than ideal: Mid-thirties (ha! Like ME!), windy and oh yeah, SNOW!! I was not surprised. Like-minded running folk understand the monitoring of the weather leading up to race day. But since we are in Illinois and there is no gray-area with weather, the change from temps in the sunny 70’s to cold, biting wind and rain is not a huge surprise. However, for someone who suffers from migraines, it was not a good scenario for me. Sound familiar? Yes, same thing happened for the March Madness Half 6 months ago. So, at least it wasn’t the first time it happened. This time, it wasn’t as bad and for some reason, the medicine isn’t affecting me in the same way as before, so I didn’t have the heaviness in my limbs that I usually do. Thank goodness!
The night before, I laid out my clothes. The Moms Run This Town group calls this your “Flat Mama” and we all post the pics in the group the night before the race. It’s both fun and helpful to set everything out the night before. Here’s my Flat Mama:
After getting dressed, I stretched out and then it was time to get going. I got to the starting line an hour early and I was able to meet up with my buddies, Kathy and Bridget before the race. Here we are, freezing our kiesters off waiting to get started
Once we started, I got my garmin watch going (it started a little late because I forgot that it takes a little longer for the gps to find my location out in the woods). Thankfully the biggest hills were within the first couple of miles. I was glad to have my Garmin with me, not only to track my longest run since I’ve purchased it, but to keep track of my pace. I didn’t want to go out too fast and fizzle out before the end. I tried to listen to my body and to move at a pace that felt good, but when I’d look down within the first half of the race, I’d see anywhere from 8:45-9:20 and it was a good reminder to try and slow down. I tried, but apparently I didn’t because my overall pace for the race was 9:32, but maybe it would have been faster if I hadn’t at least tried to slow down. I think I would have burned out way too soon if I had been much faster in the first half.
The race was a 10K as well as a half-marathon and the course was laid out so that after running the two big loops on that side of the park, those of us running 13.1 were supposed to head out to the other side of River Road, run the Dam Trail, then up River Road and back to the finish. Once we got back the start and the 10Kers were done, reality set in. I said to myself, “This is it. This is where it gets real.” And it did. I started to get tired. If I had to guess, I’d say this temporary wall was 33.3% physical and 66.67% mental. The mental part had to do with the fact that the 10Kers were done and it’s disheartening to hear the cheers for them and see them turn off to their finish and to know that you aren’t even half-way done yet. But alas, something very cool happened just then.
I had my head down as I past the 10K turn off, like I said, trying to pick myself up mentally and truck on. I approached a group of spectators at this time. Even though I didn’t know any of them, they started cheering really encouraging things, like “Come on! Get your head up!” I looked at them and smiled, appreciating the kind encouragement. Then one guy said something like, “You’re going to PR this race! Come on, Ambassador!” That perked me up big time! I smiled and said, “Thank you!!!” and I swear, that comment gave me enough energy to get me going again and it lasted a good while. To know this person has read this blog at some point or another, felt pretty awesome and I say, “Thank you!!!” again for the encouragement and support.
Soon after this, I got to River Road and headed to the Dam trail. Once I got to River Road, the wind hit pretty hard, but my resolve was not gone. At this point, though I was really just trying to make it the next water stop. I wasn’t necessarily thirsty, but my strategy for halfs is to always take the water and walk for a minute while I sip. Thankfully, there weren’t any big hills in this part of the course. But once I was back on River Road for the last 3 miles, even the steady inclines were bugging me and wearing me down. At one point when I had about 1.5 miles left, I started to walk and this guy came up behind me and said, “Nope, come on, we’re almost done. You can do it!” I immediately started running again with him and chatted for a half mile or so. That was really good because he paced me and had me faster than I would have made myself start back up. I ended up trailing behind him again after a while, but it definitely got me back going. I’m very grateful to him!
Surprisingly, there were quite a few rolling hills in the last mile of the course. They totally sucked while I was doing them. I kept trying to tell myself, “You’ve done 12 miles of this already, what’s one more mile? You’re almost done.” At the finish line, I had the same feeling I always do: It’s hard to breathe, I had a lot of pressure on my chest and it feels like I’m not going to be able to finish. But I saw my husband and boys at the finish line, as well as my friend, Christine from the Moms Run This Town group and it totally got me across the finish.
Since we started in waves, I knew that the time on the clock at the finish line was not my actual time, but since I started with the second wave, I knew it wasn’t far off. The clock said 2:05 and some odd seconds, so I was happy! I figured I’d check my official time before I left. After not too long, I was able to cheer my buddies on at the finish line. Here we are with our medals:
My next race is already in two weeks! It’s actually a virtual race and even though I’m not really into those, I could not pass up this medal
Thanks so much for all of your support in person and through the interwebs. I have the best friends in the world! Also, a big THANK YOU to the Running Depot for sponsoring me in this run! It has been so fun and rewarding to work with the coaches and the store! Have an amazing week, friends and thanks for reading!