Racing season began today! I have wanted to do the Triple Crown and MiniMarathon for several years now. After just “never getting around to it”, then having 2 pregnancies keep me from doing it, I was ready to run this year! Two years ago I watched the Mini on TV and was just kicking myself for not signing up, then last year I watched it with my 2 week old, obviously unable to run 13.1 miles. But I told myself that I would not back out in 2011! So I signed up a long time ago, I think it was in November, knowing that I would not back out if I had already invested money into it! I love running so I have thoroughly enjoyed training. But more than anything it's been nice to do something for myself. I love being mom and wife more than anything in the world, but since I'm at home with the girls and Ronnie has such a demanding job at times it feels like that is all I am. I sometimes feel like I've lost myself, so it's been nice to do something just for me. And thankfully Ronnie has been more than supportive and has happily watched the girls a lot lately during my runs...which has been great for the girls. They don't get a lot of Daddy time due to his work schedule, and rarely get Daddy time without Mommy. It's been a great situation for all of us! Though Ronnie, who also likes to run, has been a little jealous and would love to run with me! I think he's just jealous because I may be faster than him now. :)
I signed up for the Derby Festival MiniMarathon (13.1 miles) shortly before Christmas and then soon after signed up for the Triple Crown – 5K (3.1 miles), 10K (6.2 miles) & 10 miler. One of the main reasons I had never signed up is because I really hate racing. Don’t get me wrong, I love running and have been an avid runner since college, but races make me unbelievably stressed, nervous and nearly sick at my stomach. My friend Kebra joined a running group that is training for the Triple Crown and Mini and she encouraged me to join, too. I joined them for a run one Saturday and then decided to join. Aside from the running benefits and opportunity to run with other people, one of the main reasons I signed up was to get used to running at 8 a.m. on Saturdays with people. I hoped it would help calm my nerves and fortunately it seems to have helped a lot.
This morning was the first leg of the Triple Crown – the 5K. My last experience with a 5K was not good. In 2007 Ronnie and I ran the Health Care Classic 5K that the Med School hosts and it was a disaster. We trained hard in hopes of having fast times, but someone did a crappy job of measuring the distance of the race and it was actually 3.6 miles instead of 3.1. When you are running a 5K you are running fast, and an extra half mile makes a big difference! Ronnie had finished before me and was told what happened after his time was a lot slower than he expected. He met me at the finish line to tell me because he knew I might burst into tears when I saw that my time was about 4 minutes slower than what I was aiming for! So that was not so great.
The 5K this morning went great! The worst part was waking up at 6:30 a.m. Yuck. I met my friend Ashley at her house and we rode together, so it was very nice to be with a friend for the event! Ronnie was off work and able to stay at home with the girls. It was just too cold, and too crowded, to get them out for a short run like that. We figured out where to park and made our way to the starting line, with 10,000 other people. I desperately, desperately needed to use the restroom before the race started (if you know what I mean), but unfortunately the lines were so long that I would have probably missed the start of the race. And yes, I said 10,000 people ran the 5K! It was insane, and at times a bit frustrating. We got as close to the front as we could, which wasn’t very close at all. Once the race started it was actually 3 minutes 30 seconds before we even crossed the STARTING line. So obviously the time on the clock wasn’t anywhere near our actual times, but thankfully I had my GPS to watch my time. I don’t know how I ever ran without that thing. My goal going into it was 23 minutes – a 7:24 pace. Honestly though I thought 24 minutes was a more realistic goal. I was pleasantly surprised and ended up finishing in 22 minutes 52 seconds! I had an embarrassing moment after I crossed the finish line. There was a guy who looked like he was giving me a high five. I started at him for a few seconds and thought, “I don’t know him…why is he giving me a high five?” Then I realized that I probably looked absolutely exhausted, and a bit sick because during the last quarter mile I thought I might actually throw up, so maybe he thought I just needed a high five. Nice guy. All this actually crossed my mind in about 5 seconds. So I reached up to give him a high five, as his arm reached over my head to high five the guy behind me. Woops. We had an embarrassing three-person high five. So I just kept running like it never happened! Then came the best part – the free, post-race snacks. Thank you Panera Bread, for providing free cinnamon crunch bagels. I had never had one before, but I would call it a little piece of heaven in bagel form.
I'm also excited about the Mini for another reason. Several people from our church decided to sign up this year in honor of our Pastor's wife, Connie Towles, who passed away in December after a tough-fought battle with cancer. She was an avid runner and participant in the Mini and we are all excited to be running in her memory and will even wear matching t-shirts with a special Bible verse on the back. It makes running the race so much more meaningful!
I was really happy to get the races off to a good start and have a strong (for me!) first race. It makes me much more confident and less nervous going into the next races. Ella is pretty excited to get to go to the races, too. Today she kept saying, “Mommy I missed you soooooo much!” I said, “But I was with you all day!” Then she said, “No, but I missed you sooooo much when you were at your race!” Ronnie plans to bring them to the 10 miler and Mini so I’m excited to have my little support team there!
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