Running Mom's Motivation

Well, here it is...I know that you have all been on pins and needles waiting for this report. Hope you enjoy.

I was really hoping for a 50 degree morning last Sunday. That would have been perfect racing weather for me. When we got up at 5:30 am it was already 64. We got to the parking lot with time to spare, but then has to wait for my SIL's friend to show up. So, I barely had time to get a quick bite to eat (cinnamon rolls were the pre-race snack..yum) and to do a half mile warm up. I got in line for the porta potty when they started saying we needed to line up. They kept telling up we were going to start "soon". There were probably 200 of us in line when the Mayor of Gainesville started talking. Suddenly in the middle of her speech, the gun went off!!! I looked around and saw that not to many people were getting out of line, so I took my jacket to my brother and walked to the start line. It made for a very disappointing start for me. I was probably close to 1/4 mile into my race when the national anthem started.
I purposely took the first 3 miles easy. I was feeling pretty good at that point and picked up the pace. At about mile number 5 the hills started. When I asked the people in charge of the race about hills about a month ago they said that they couldn't get any elevation information to post online because the elevation was so low. They said there were "a few hills" for the half on 16th street. Those first couple hills were just fine. I was feeling really good and thinking that I was going to be just fine. I don't really know how many hills there were, but at the last one around mile number 6 I was really dragging butt. I found out later that my Sister-in-law and her friend walked this hill. About 3/4 of the way up the hill a volunteer told us it was the last hill. That was definitely reason for celebration, but I was a little disappointed to find that over the rise, the hill continued.
Despite how hard those last couple of hills were, I felt like I could still finish with the 11 minute pace that I was hoping for. At about mile number 8 I was really starting to feel like I wished I had the time for that porta potty before the race. I stopped and had to wait for what seemed like a lifetime while the person in front of me finished up. I swear the porta potty was rocking and I was wondering what the heck was going on inside of there. But, after my pit stop I did feel much better and my pace improved again.
I am guessing that it was about mile number 10 when we went through a big balloon arch and the volunteers seemed especially lively. I stopped to drink at this station because I felt like I just really didn't get enough liquid down me at the last couple before it. I started up again just in time to come to a very busy cross road where for some reason we were expected to stop instead of traffic stopping. When I came up to the road I was completely dumb founded. I was the first runner up there in our group, and thought that maybe I had missed a turn. The Police Officer at the intersection just looked at me as I was looking around for another route and didn't say a thing. The rest of the group caught up with me and we all just sat there and waited for our light to turn green. I have to admit that my thoughts were less than gracious at this point.
In the next section of the race we had a loop around the inside of the University Of Florida stadium. I was really looking forward to this. When we got there, we just ran around the inside of the concourse. It was hot and there was very little air movement. It wasn't nearly as much fun as I had imagined.
At about 11 miles there was a couple that I came up behind. It was obvious that the woman was struggling. Her SO kept alternating between running a little ahead of her and coming back and holding her hand or arm as if he was pulling her along. How sweet.
It was shortly after this, that my chills started kicking in. I knew I didn't have long to go and that I would be just fine, but I was definitely ready for the race to be over.
As I came into the last quarter mile, I saw my husband, kids, brother and Sister-in-law cheering at the side of the road. I really needed the boost. My youngest daughter didn't see me right away but as I was running away from her I heard her yell "mommy!" I guess she jumped up and started trying to run after me and had to be rescued before a couple motor cycle cops ran her down.
I already knew that I wasn't going to make my goal time and I really didn't have any kick in me, so I didn't really finish all that strong. But I finished. Towards the end of my training with the bad weather and the problems we were having with our house and vehicle and my husband losing his job, my running really was pretty weak. I had resolved to not worry so much about my goal pace and just go out a finish. I was a little disappointed when I finished, but looking back on it, I think I ran the best race I could have. The original times that were posted were wrong, but the official chip time had me at 2:29:05. I am satisfied with an 11:22 pace for my first half, and it gives me something to shoot for next time. I liked this distance. I hope to do more of it.

Posted in: on Friday, February 29, 2008 at at 10:34 PM