Other family members signed up for the 5K.
Fast Forward to Thanksgiving Day. I want to insert here that "excusers" drive me CRAZY. You know the "excuser". You stand next to them at the start line. Everyone's THERE. You all have some story as to what condition you are in at that moment. Then the "excuser" starts talking. "I didn't even train for this." "I ran a 20 miler yesterday". "I'm using this just as a training day." "My Achilles is acting up."
The excuse list is endless. Sometimes I am an "excuser"!
Race Day morning it was about 30 degrees. Perfect weather for a half marathon. We rushed to get the turkey in the oven and everyone out the door. It didn't even feel like a race. I was EXCITED! Energy was in the air, but no focus.
The Gymnast and I decided a strategy. Do whatever you feel and don't worry about the other racers. It was her first half marathon. The gun went off and so did over 700 runners. The 5k people clapped and cheered. The support crew took pictures.
At mile one, I realized we were running a very steady pace and I felt extremely comfortable. I certainly didn't go out too fast. I looked at The Gymnast and knew she was feeling good, too, so I decided the "race strategy" had been implemented. Work steady into a comfortable "race pace" up to mile 3. At mile 6, move into the "comfortably hard race zone," hold that until mile 9 or 10 and then kick it up to the next gear. Smile for pictures at the finish banner.
However, this is how my legs decided the race would unfold...
At mile three I tried to move into another "gear". The legs did not respond, but the heart, lungs and head were ready to go. At mile 5, The Gymnast was in "the zone". I had never ran with one person for so long in a race. It was comfortable, and felt easy. I was enjoying myself as we clipped along. The mile markers seemed to come and go so quickly. At mile 6, I figured it was time to move into "race mode". Legs did not respond. Maybe it was the huge bulk of biking and running over the last eight weeks. But, no matter. I knew I had a ton in the tank and decided I'd kick it in at mile 7.
Miles 5-7 I felt The Gymnast was struggling mentally. She stayed right on my shoulder and I wasn't really going too much faster, so I stayed right there, checking to make sure she was in still contact. This was GREAT. (Later, she told me she was feeling tired and had done "crazy math". You know, the math that makes you think mile 8 is half way. At mile 7 she realized her mistake, knew it was more than half over, so she got an adrenaline rush---things were going great!)
At mile 7, I looked at my watch and thought, "Okay, now is the time! Lets go!" Feeling fantastic, and strong, I couldn't believe my legs thought otherwise. It was the weirdest thing. There was absolutely no speed. No other gear. Now, with the race more than half over, I was becoming concerned. However, on the bright side, I wasn't slowing down and felt I could run that pace FOREVER!
At mile 8, same thing. My brain said go, but my legs just stayed at the same exact pace. The Gymnast and I were still together. How absolutely cool is that? I've never ran 8 miles straight, in a race, with anyone, even a training partner. The Gymnast had trained at sea level and flown in for this day and she was doing terrific! I was proud!
Then, disaster struck. My music player stopped playing music. What was I going to do?! I actually run quite a bit without music because in Ironmans and most races, music is illegal. So this little annoyance didn't phase me too much. I looked down and slowed down for a second to check my device. I pushed a few buttons and by the time I looked up, The Gymnast was about 10-15 seconds ahead of me. No problem, really. I took out the head phones and picked up the speed a little. Then suddenly, disaster struck AGAIN! Luckily, the solution was right there in front of me.
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| The solution to my problem... |
After a two minute rest (yes, I checked the time so I had the excuse ready) I began running. Mile 9 shows up and doing the math in my head, I realized I would have to run 30 seconds per mile faster than The Gymnast just to catch up to her by the finish banner. I looked at my strong, ready, willing, and able legs once again and said, "We are running out of miles here! Get into that other gear." Still, no response.
Mile 10. "It's a 5K, now! Go! You've done lots of 5Ks faster than this!" Still, my legs moved at the same steady pace. What?! Is it the bulk of training? The speed and strength training I've done on the bike and run, for the last 8 weeks? Could it be that my legs actually need a week off which is NEXT week? Yep. After all these years, I finally get it. You can't do a boat load of training, take 1 day lightly and expect to run a PR. And I didn't take the day before lightly, either!
I crossed the Finish line at almost the same speed I started.
Saddest part of the day was crossing the finish and hearing that Hoopster took 2nd OVERALL Women and won a turkey, a gift card, and a trophy. In her second ever 5K. And I wasn't there to see the look of surprise and shock on her face when they called her name.
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| Hoopster wins a turkey! |
The gymnast did awesome and held the same pace to the end. Everyone who did the 5K had a great time and now I have children that will run races with me. Success!!
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