A Race Report And A PR In My Own Mind!

Yesterday was Friday and it was a day of over indulgence in terms of my diet!! I am getting sick just thinking about it:( I have a new manager at work and he wanted to get the entire department together so we decided to do a potluck. Yea, you know....where everyone brings food that looks so good but maybe you wouldn't normally eat. I am still cursing my co-worker Laura for bringing those damn freaking chocolate brownies!! Anyway, let's just say I ate a crappy lunch. My daughter started her spring basketball league and there was a welcome party at one of her teammate's house last night. Yep, you guessed it...potluck again. This was a little different because it was a backyard BBQ. I am telling you that my hotdog tasted fabulous:) I ate some more of the normal potluck food and had a glass of red wine! I totally caved under the peer pressure:) I am a stupid woman!! I got up this morning at 5:30 AM to take a shower and get ready for my first official 10k of the season. I drove to Golden Valley by myself. I was a loner today...my family decided to sleep in and let me fend for myself. I got there and walked right in and made my way to the pre-registered table to pick up my bib and t-shirt. Number 92...hmmm, I wonder if this is going to be lucky number 92? I pinned my bib to my running pants and walked to the bathroom...the first of about five times before the race started:( Let me just say that it was going to be that kind of day, if you know what I mean!! It totally sucked to be me today!!

I went back to my van and pulled my hair back into a pony tail and put on my running visor. I sat in my van for a few minutes but wanted to make it to the rest room one more time before the race started. The 5k people were already standing by the start line. I made it back and was able to watch the start of the 5k. As soon as the runners all made their way past the start line all of the 10k people slowly made the way to the start line too.

This was about ten minutes before the start. Here is a picture of the people standing behind me.

This was my view of the people in front of me. I was trying to chat with people to see what type of pace they were planning on running. I met this really nice thirty-three year old woman who told me she was going to try to run a seven minute mile pace. Yea, that wasn't going to work for me:( I then saw two women who looked like they were in their late 40's to early 50's. I asked them what pace they were going to run. They said 7:30 to 8:00 and I thought maybe I could keep them in my sight and shoot to run faster than my training 8:30 pace. I really don't know how long it took me to make it up to the start but it was here that I really wished we were chip timed. I just kept on thinking of the seconds that were ticking away as we shuffled up and ahead. I started my Garmin and ran right behind the ladies. Wowzer, did they start fast!! Okay, I guess I started out fast too because I was trying to keep up with these speedy chicks! I felt like I was going way out of my comfort zone! Mile one 7:15....WTH!! These ladies kicked my butt:) I had to slow down because my breathing was out of control. I was gasping for air and something was off. The start of mile two had some hills and I was so thrilled to be making my way up them. Just kidding...they sucked! It was at mile two where my stomach started to act up and my GI system decided to have a little fun with me. One thing that I didn't mention earlier was my last trip to the rest room included me grabbing a handful of TP. I was desperately looking for a place where I could pull over. My eyes scanned for a tree, bush or fence! God, just give me something..please!! I had to run for maybe 400 meters before I spotted a huge pine tree. I have never been so excited to see a pine tree in my life!!! I ran behind the pine tree. I really have no idea how long I was there. I was just hoping that no one was attempting to take a peek:) I was also praying that the owners of that nice big pine tree were not looking out of any of their windows during my little visit. I am now back in the race and really still struggling to keep my breathing regulated. This race was not feeling the greatest so far. Every time I looked down at my Garmin it was around 8:20 to 8:30. It was at mile four where there was a water stop. I grabbed two cups of water sucking them both down. I was so thirsty that I went back for one more. This is my own fault, I should of never ate like crap the day before a race or drank wine!!! Like I said, I am a stupid woman. I started to slowly jog and get my pace up to something respectable. Mile five was terrible because there was a very steep hill that wrapped around a parkway!! Oh my God, just flipping shoot me now!! Once I got up the hill I was totally out of breath again. I was telling myself that I just had a mile left and to suck it up and try to move faster. Where and the hell is Denny when I need him? Denny is my new runner dad who would of helped me to move my ass and finish strong! I was thinking that if he were there he would run faster and I would try like hell to keep up with him. I looked ahead of me...a few men and two younger twenty something girls. I passed the two girls and just kept on trying to get closer to the guys. Little by little I inched closer and closer. I pass guy number one!! I started to hear people cheering and a flit of joy bounced in my heart!! Thank you God!! This means that the finish line is coming and I will be done with this race! I turned the corner and started sprinting...I passed guy number two and kept on running as fast as my legs would take me. Right before the finish line there were six freaking walkers from the 5k in my way!!! There were two shoots, one for the 5k runners and walkers and the other for the 10k people! Excuse me runner coming through...you need to move out of the way!!! I had to run around them to make it into my finish shoot!! This made me so crabby!! I think it is great that people are getting out and walking but someone needs to explain to the walkers how things work during timed races where people are attempting to run fast and possibly PR! My official time was 52:37 which is 11 seconds longer than my first 10k last summer. I ran my first and only 10k around Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis last summer. That course was a dream compared to this one!!It is flat and fast!! So here is what I am thinking...in my own mind I think I PRd! I unofficially PRd because of the visit with the pine tree, the date with all of the hills, the little walk around the water table, the seconds that ticked away before I actually started, and the Homer walkers who got in my way:) This race sucked, I felt terrible during every part of it until the end! I am going to chalk this race up as character building and move on:) It is sort of funny now when I think about it!! I took fifth place for my age group and guess what my official pace was...8:30...shocker I know:) I am going to run the Bolder Dash 10k again this year on that beautiful flat and fast course!! I am going to seek redemtion and flipping PR...I promise you and I promise myself!!

After all of that I am still smiling:)

My daughter Kay wanted me to post this picture because she thinks that I am like this most of the time. She said that I look super dorky here and you can see my man arms:) I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their weekends!! Happy running and keep smiling:)

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