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After not being able to go for my goal at the Rock N Roll half in October I was hoping to be able to give a better effort for this race. My PB had been set on this course in 2009.
Last week was an emotional one as my friend Donna died on the Wednesday. Her funeral was Saturday and that was both a physically and emotionally draining day. I wasn't as "all in" for the race as I had been the week before. Saturday night I didn't even worry about prerace prep- I had three glasses of champagne! There was little sleep that night and when the alarm went off at 5:45 it was hard to drag myself out of bed.
But I did. And I ate and had coffee and picked up Tikey just before 7:00.
By the time we got to the start I was in a much better frame of mind. We met up with Stampie, Jwolf, and RobW before the race as well as several other running friends. Everyone was in a good mood, happy about the great weather, and ready to race.
We went out about 20 mins before start and I got a good warm-up in. Tikey, Megan, and I settled in by the 2:15 sign and the gun was off.
I was feeling it right from the start. I stayed with Tikey and Megan for about half a k and then I started working my way through the crowd and trying to find a spot to settle in. Starting so far back was not the best idea but I think it may have helped me by forcing me to stay slow at the beginning. It wasn't until about 4K that I felt that I had found my pace. I haven't pulled my splits off my Garmin yet but I remember looking at 5K and being really happy with my time. I decided to push it for as long as I could. My pace was good and I wasn't working so hard that I was worried about running out of gas. I passed my friend Mark about 6K and at 7-8K I had a tap on the shoulder from Stampie. Just after that I passed my friend Marianne and we gave each other some encouragement. The sun was shining and the views as we ran around the seawall were spectacular. I was in the groove.
10K done in about 54 mins and all systems were go. I took a gel sometime around here and kept pushing on. The rest of the seawall went quickly and then the loop around Lost Lagoon came up. This is the one part of the course that I usually hate but on Sunday it was no problem. I decided to get it done as quickly as possible knowing that the finish would come soon after.
At 18K I checked my watch and knew that a PB was going to happen and that if I could dig and keep up the pace I would crack 1:50:00, that has been a dream of mine for a while now. Things were hurting and a little voice told me it would be ok to slow down, ease up, I would still have a great time. But then another voice - my friend Donna- she told me to dig deep, push on and get that sub 1:50:00. so I did. Chip time = 1:48:18
Coming up under the bridge, that little hill which seems so big at the end of a long race, I had a smile on my face. Finish line just around that corner,,,, there it is,,,,
and I see the clock and it's all good. Sprint the the finish, cross the line, and burst into tears. Tears for Donna, but also tears of joy.
*ETA- it was great to see RobW after and cheer Stampie and Jwolf in. Then Stampie and I cheered in Tikey. The three of us enjoyed the great post-race food and Stampie and I had our pic taken with Dylan Wykes.
This race was a HUGE mental boost for me. To be able to knock time off at my age? cool beans.
I do not doubt that I will reach my marathon goal this year.
