The day before and the day of the race I was feeling pretty asthmatic, which was making me nervous for the race...but I chalked it up to pre-race jitters and "in my head" symptoms.
My roommate A, her brother B and I went to the race together. The loose plan was that Avis, myself and A were going to run together. B had a goal of 50 minutes, so he was in an entirely different corral. Pre-race, I had taken my puffer 4 times. I was feeling as though it was hard to breathe, and that was making me nervous. It was wonderful to see Avis in the corral, to put a face to the name and to know we were going to run together. The gun went off and it felt like it took us forever to cross that starting line (it did probably take about 5 minutes). My garmin was dead before the race (I should have trusted my instinct to charge it!), so even though I was wearing it, I wasn't going to be able to rely on it
We head out, feeling pretty good, my legs feel great, and A tells us we are about 7 minute kms - perfect. I can do that for the 9.5k, and kick it up for the last 500m. I was happy with where we were pace wise, though it felt really difficult to breathe doing this pace. I was trying to listen to my body and stay with Avis and A. Those two were just a few pace strides ahead of me and I was trying my best to stay with them. I think Avis and I must have been leap frogging as we zig zagged through the crowd, since we each were trying to keep up with the other
We saw ChrisL, but he was too busy chatting away with someone else to notice us Thankfully while I started yelling "Chris", my former boss Lisa saw me and jumped up and down to cheer for me. How exciting!!Then, we saw what we thought was the first water station up ahead. I said I was going to move to the side when we got there and take my puffer. Bad news to have to take it around the 3k mark, but I had to listen to my body. This is where A and I lost Avis. I don't think she saw me pull off to the side, and I couldn't see her when we got back in the crowd.
Framboisine pulled up next to us shortly after, but ran her own race. She, too, had tried to get ChrisL to notice her but failed
She did tell us she saw Avis behind us. I yelled out "Pick up the pace Avis! Come catch us!" I really wanted her to be running with us, but I don't think she heard. Knowing what I know now, I would have liked to have gone back for her... hindsight is 20/20 right? I knew Al was at the 5K mark, and even though my lungs begged me to stop, I had to keep going. We went up the on-ramp to Bronson Street and I said to A "don't stop running. We'll pick off a bunch of runners going up this hill. You and I know we can run this hill. It's nothing compared to what we did in Half-marathon training!". And I was right. We went up there with relative ease, passing many other runners. At the top, we saw Al who rooted us on. When we got down to the other side of the canal there was a woman yelling "you're almost there". I really wanted to go over and drop-kick her. I was certain at 5.5km I was *not* almost at the finish line. I was wheezy, angry, and hurting. I didn't like her at all. I'm sure she meant well, so it's probably a good thing I didn't have the energy to drop-kick her 
Around here I told A to run ahead. I was cramping and needed to catch my breath. I walked for a minute or 2, and then kept running. I knew I wasn't going to beat my 2009 time if I walked. I needed to keep running. I was thinking of one of the signs Al, T and I had made the night before "If you walk you'll still be hurting". It's true. So run I did. Just before I got to Pretoria Bridge I really wanted to quit and find a medic. I knew my asthma wasn't bad enough, but I was just feeling... done. I felt awful. Mentally I was not there. Physically I wasn't there. It was just a mess. But, Jo-jo and Spirit were going to be at Pretoria so I had to keep going, at least to see them.
And see them I did. They didn't see me, but I cut across the crowd of runners to get to the side of the Bridge they were cheering on. I gave them each a hug, and I was so grateful they were there. I needed to see someone at that point. I needed that something. Spirit and Jo-jo, thank you. You have no idea what it meant to see you both there that evening. It's probably the only reason I finished the race.
After seeing them I knew I could finish. I kept seeing someone ahead of me and deciding they weren't going to beat me. I slowly passed a runner here and there, and kept moving forward. As soon as I saw the 500m sign, I gave it all I had. I pushed and finished with a chip time of 1:11:12.7.
As soon as I crossed the finish line I went to see the medics. I had had 6 puffs of my puffer, and didn't really want to put more in me. I wanted to slow my HR and my breathing down, and wanted to be near medics just in case. Eventually I got my wheezing under control and felt a little better. I walked to grab some food and find A and B - and Avis found us moments later. We took some finishers pictures together, and gave Avis back to C before heading back home. That race was by far the hardest one I have run. I just couldn't get my body to do what I wanted. I was so upset afterwards. I know I "PB'd" but it didn't feel like it. It felt hard, and awful, and like a death march.
Now, I am on day 2 of being sick. I have slept 40 of the past 48 hours, and understand why that 10K was so difficult. My poor body was fighting off something, and I was pushing it....
no wonder you had such a hard time racing. Hope you start to feel better soon.
