Race recap: You Go Girl!

Third time’s the charm – what a blast!  All the anticipation and training paid off, and I crushed my break-2:20 goal with a  2:11:50.  And so many other sweet bits to the weekend.

PACKET PICKUP – I’ve actually been planning this day for awhile now.  Little girl and I had haircuts early in the morning, then headed to Tacoma for pickup and lunch at her fave place – Olive Garden.  It was a sweet morning.  I’ve mourned my son’s growing up (seventh grade this year was harder than his first days of childcare, no joke) but almost overlooked my daughter’s transitions as she moves to third grade.  She’s just – more herself.  She’s always been incredibly talkative, but her conversations have a new depth. Her mannerisms are older. Spending a morning with her with minor, shared distractions (can’t get to no distractions, that’s just about impossible with us) was sheer joy.

Our morning started early, as it usually does on haircut days.  Starbucks is a must, and carefully planned into our timing.  Haircuts are always fun – since my head is under the dryer I have no idea what she and Miss Diane are talking about, but what is clear is that she’s motoring on and Diane’s cracking up. 

All done up, we headed toward Tacoma; got a little turned around, but found the place (I need to remember, it’s by UWT. how hard could it be? I’ve spent enough time in my life on that campus).  Nice little expo, got all our goodies.  Little girl took care of her own packet, thankyouverymuch, then helped me carry the additional six bags around.  (Really, I didn’t intend to play packet packhorse this year.  But six is way better than the twenty or so I had last year.)

One of the thing I love about this race is running into friends all over.  Coordinated an impromptu get-together with two of my besties-with-daughters; caught up with T while S and Little Girl played in the plaza, then found C and K (they got lost too, it wasn’t just me!) and we headed back into the expo.  Little Girl took S and K to get their packets (wow! Big girls taking care of themselves) while T and C did their own packet-packhorse duty.  Once all the packets were in hand and daughters were securely reunited with mothers, Little Girl and I took off for our lunch date.  Got lost (again! Seriously, I’m not so directionally-challenged as all this may lead you to believe), got sweet parking, carbed up while we chatted.  We definitely got our money’s worth – never-ending pasta bowl plus kids-eat-free coupon made for a lovely, HUGE lunch.  And truly, this child knows how to carbo-load: Fettucine alfredo and mashed potatoes with chocolate milk.  Kid’s definitely an endurance athlete.

Got home, sorted through packets to pull out my own stuff, laid out gear, confirmed my ride, showed D where to park for the finish line, found camera, munched potato chips, craved chocolate cake, found gels, took nap, ate pasta leftovers for dinner (see? Definitely got money’s worth) with wine for pre-race dinner.  Spent.

RACE DAY – wasn’t an early wake-up by any stretch, but it was hard to get out of bed.  I eventually convinced myself that it was time, by golly, and thankfully all that laying-out-of-gear made for a no-brainer morning.  The only thing that required thought was to go to the pantry and choose a jam for my PB & J (the apricot jam I opened earlier this week hadn’t gelled – so it’s more aptly a lovely dessert sauce, not for sandwiches). 

My darling husband drove me to get a mocha and meet up with the Math Teacher and her daughter, Miss M, who chauffeured me to the start line after a pit stop back at their house for an errant hat.  Easy parking, and early enough that there was no line for the potties (yea!!!).  Then it was time to set about finding our buds, especially A, the one whose chip and bib I was holding!  As sometimes happens, as if by magic, our group began to coalesce, introductions were made, and soon it was time to line up.  A and I took our place in front of the 2:20 pacer – her foot has been hurting, so she chose to start back at my super-slow-for-her pace (thank you, A!).

Mile 1: 9:07 -  love the downhill start, it felt soooo easy!  But we knew we were moving out too fast… but it’s downhill, it’s easy, what can we do?  A’s foot felt good and she seemed quite happy to pace with me, so we settled into our rhythm.

Mile 2: 9:44 – Miss M caught up with us right before the first mile marker, having left her mother in the dust.  She settled in with our pace and we chatted about hair, boys, stuff…  Still moving strong, out to the first turnaround with another downhill respite.

Mile 3: 10:03 – The long uphill slog – I just kept chatting, and hoping not to horridly annoy everyone not involved in our conversation (yes, I’m THAT runner, I distract myself and everyone else with all my mindless chatter).  At one point the 2:20 pacer played traffic cop to let a local resident get her car out of the stream of runners; one person snarled “well, I’m  not stopping!” and she and her cohorts barreled in front of the car.  Seriously???  Holding up for ten seconds is going to blow your time goal in the third mile?  Perspective, people!  Races run on the goodwill of the folks we’re displacing and annoying – lacking respect for that just gets our races canceled.  And I like this one too much to get it canceled. (stepping off soapbox now…)

Mile 4: 10:17 – So you hit a water station right before the third mile marker, turn a corner, and are confronted with a steep hill worthy of San Francisco fame.  Holy heavens.  It’s four blocks STRAIGHT UP.  But, it’s only four blocks, and then you have a lovely stroll around gravel paths in a beautiful park.  This is my favorite part of the course – AFTER the four-blocks-straight-up part.  I started to get a side cramp and had to walk briefly, but powered through. 

Mile 5: 9:38 – what goes up, must come down… and the long, lovely downhill is a blast!  Passed the water station again, and this time took advantage of the pit stop opportunity (darn morning bladder).  A's foot was feeling better and speed was calling, so she kept going when I stopped, but Miss M waited for me (thanks, sweetie!).

Mile 6: 9:22 – More downhill.  Caught up with C, whose husband had run ahead.  We all ran together for this mile.  Miss M wanted to take off toward the finish, C was hurting a bit.  I worked on keeping a steady pace, making sure I didn’t lose sight of C.  Miss M sprinted a touch too early and was walking off a side ache when we caught her; I told her to pace C into the 10K finish, and off they went.  I almost blew off the water stop, for some reason I thought there was another one just over the hill, but realized they wouldn’t place them that close – so I stopped, choked down a gel and washed it down.  

Mile 7: 10:25 – My husband and son were waiting at the 10k/half fork, both with cameras.  Such a sweet surprise!  I hadn’t expected them until I was closer to the finish line.  But man, did it feel quiet as the bulk of runners peeled off toward the 10K finish.

Mile 8: 10:24 – Ah, now there comes the return pack.  The leaders started passing us – looking very determined.  I am amazed by their speed and strength.  Also, it’s just so fun to have people to cheer for as they pass you!  I do a lot of yelling encouragement toward others to stay out of my own head.

Mile 9: 9:36 – Still looking for all those people I knew were ahead of me – saw several, including Mel of Tall Mom fame, yea!  I recognized Mel’s shirt coming at me just behind the 1:50 pacer and shouted at her as loudly as I could (sorry, Mel, couldn’t resist!).  It was like a little celebrity sighting. J

Mile 10: 9:46 – It felt like the turnaround came quicker than last year – a pleasant surprise.  The volunteer at the cone was yelling, “You’ve got this!  Just a 5K to go and you’re done!”  I LOVED that!  Reframing the effort – and just what I needed.  I can knock out a 5K in my sleep on a bad day, and this was way better than many of the “bad days” I ran through this year.

Mile 11: 10:03 and Mile 12: 10:23 – felt good, but I was slowing down a bit.  I began counting footfalls, counting people ahead of me, trying to keep one foot in front of the other.

Mile 13: 10:11 – When the twelfth mile split chirped on my Garmin, I hit the wall. That last mile seemed sooooo long, and I just wanted to be DONE – a sentiment echoed by many of the other gals on the course near me!  I allowed myself one more walk, picked my spot, and started running again.  I tried to pick up a fellow runner as I caught them, encouraging them to join me in that last little push, but they just returned the encouragement and pushed me ahead.  I’m not yet at the point where I can pass gals at the end of the race without just a little bit of guilt.

As I hit the overpass on the last bit, I saw my son sitting on the jersey barrier with the camera.  I hollered his name, he jumped out of his skin – apparently I wasn’t quite yet expected!  He ran ahead playing papparazi, catching pictures of me with a huge grin on my face.  At the turn, my daughter jumped up and down yelling to me.  I called her out and she ran to join me, so we could run through the finish chute in our matchy-matchy skirts.  The picture of us crossing the finish line, holding hands, is one of my favorites ever.

Mel was sitting on the hill near the finish chute, chilling and watching folks kick it toward the line.  We chatted a bit, actually introduced ourselves IRL, but slowly my group seemed to camp out next to her spot.  Sorry if we crowded you a bit, sweetie, but it was fun to meet you!

We waited for the Little Girl’s race to get started.  My girl was so excited for her first race.  She lined up at the front, took off hard, and pounded up the hill.  When we saw her on the return she was still running hard, stuck her tongue out at her brother for a picture, and chased along.  I couldn’t quite figure how to get to her, but her brother had run with her all the way through the finish so he was able to coordinate everyone.  We took our leave and headed to the car.

On the ride home, the kids told me their funniest moment of the day, when the finish line announcer called out: “There’s a line at the Naked truck for free shirts…” whaaa???

RESULTS

overall place:	207 out of 487
division place:	45 out of 92
time:	2:11:50    (Garmin read 2:09:33)
pace:	10:04

 

I didn’t even really think about crushing my goal – I’d recognized that at the turnaround.  I even allowed myself to think that 2:05 was within reach, and then shook that off – there is no reason to take a smashing success and in any way turn it toward a defeat.  I am super-happy with what I accomplished today, and for what it represents – the accomplishment over the summer of actually training, sticking to it, and following through on my stated goal.