Luckily the night before I had laid out my run clothes ( I always do this, its a habit). I had not been able to pick up my packet so we had to get there early to pick up packets. I wanted to leave at 7am so like an idiot , I mean for some reason I wasn't thinking and set my alarm for 7am. So when I woke up and realized I should of been leaving already, I didn't bother waking the kids up, they could stay home. Hank and I got up quickly and did a rush job out the front door. We headed to Portland (about 35 mins away). By this time it was already 7:10am, so I was already running late. Then I almost get pulled over for speeding, luckily the guy in front of me was speeding and the cop passed me up to pull him over. Thank goodness (sorry dude in front of me).
Anyways we got there by 7:30 (still speeding). We parked and got my packet. Had time to take a pic in front of the fire truck (see above picture). Hank and I ran to the near by store for some caffeine. I am currently giving up sodas but knew I needed a little push this morning. I got my usual Diet Coke and he bought a coffee. We returned to the parking lot to wait till 8:30 until the race started. While we were waiting we noticed the Welch girls were at this race… wth? they are from Houston, why would they be down HERE. (they travel all over for races but why at MY race, MY neck of the woods) Now they are great girls, at the young ages of 11 and 14, they are kicking serious ass in the race world. They will be Olympians one day. They are sweet and beautiful little girls but fast as f*ck all get out. I mean super fast. Seriously watch for them at your race… you'll know if they are there. So with the sighting of these girls my dreams were crushed of winning overall female. Ok I know it was a long stretch but a girl can dream right?!?!? LOL Anyways looking around I kept getting more nervous. My goal was to do better than a 26:30 time and place in my age group. I had looked at the previous times and this was a doable goal. The last time I ran a 5k for time I was around 27-28 mins. It had been close to a year since then. I have struggled and had issues (emotional) with running and life in general and wasn't sure how I would do. I have been training for my marathon but was unsure of my pace. Hank suggested I try for a 23 min time hahahha, Ok that was really funny I thought.
So we lined up and did the 10 second count down, ya know all 250 of us runners. The horn blows and we are off. I make my way to the front of the pack in the first 1/4 of a mile, I'm pretty proud of my pace, my phone says about 7:58 and I'm like ok it will say that for a bit and then catch up, I know I'm running fast I will settle into my pace here in a minute and carry on. Then there are a couple of women in front of me and I have to pass them to place, so I maintain my pace, because I know the first mile weeds out the weak. So I start passing more people and I'm content with my pace still. Its fast and I'm pushing it but I can maintain it. First water station passed (no water on 5k's, they just slow ya down). Then there are 2 girls still in front of me. One was there and one had passed me but was hanging RIGHT in front of me. I was pushing them for about a mile and half. One lady was in a nice pace and you could tell she was comfortable there. She wasn't going to be speeding up maybe slowing slightly, the other girl in front of me was pushing herself and I could see she wouldn't last, so I stayed on her heels and steadily pushed her. We hit the back of the course and it was steady hills, up and down, up and down, the concrete was wet and a bit slippery. But hills don't scare me, I eat hills for breakfast hahaha. No really I love hills, I try to work them in my runs for this very reason. Oh and going down a hill, i look like a little bunny, nice open wide stride and a little bounce, letting the hill do the work and the body just flowing along. This is where I could eat her up, she didn't know how to work hills; going up or down. So rounding up the end of mile 2 right before the flat road again I passed her and never seen her again, I'm pretty sure she was hurting. She was breathing hard the whole time and I know I made her work. I WAS working. I could feel the burn in my lungs and thought a couple of times of puking but knew I could do that at the end. After all this was only a 5k.
So back on flat ground and headed back to the finish/start line, only a couple of guys in front of me. Everything is looking good. All of a sudden i can see the finish line and my time is looking great. My phone has been bouncing around with pace time. 7 some times, 8 and 9 sometimes. So really I was unsure of where I was and what my actual time was. Then I'm about 100 yards and I usually save a little for the end and try to push it but there wasn't much there. I had used it all on the last 3 miles. But feeling good and proud, knowing there was only the little Welch girl and one other girl in front of me, so I'm happy with my place and know for sure I'm securing an age division spot. I cross the line and the announcer says 24:45….. WHAT, WHAT was that ? 24 mins? seriously? I don't believe it, I had to turn and look at the clock to double check. No freaking way had I just ran that in 24 mins…. no way. Not me…. I wish someone would of got a picture of my face, it probably had about 100 emotions going on; pain, surprise, excitement, wonder, uncertainty, happiness. I mean it was a ball of emotions for sure. I keep walking and see Hank coming up to me and was like did you hear that? did I hear that? was that right ? was someone lying to me? LOL He smiled and high five me and said 24:45 babe… I told ya to go for 23 haha… Holy smokes, he had heard it too. It was 24 mins. Well shit…. look at that. I JUST RAN FAST!!! :)
They give ya little print outs of your time, division and gender division. And sure enough unofficial time was 24:47.
They had a wonderful breakfast inside the Country Club, I mean the best spread I have ever seen. They had it all. Even had real waiters waiting on us. LOL And Mimosas for those that wanted it…well of course I had to have one. You can't pass a mimosa up and especially one for free with GOOD champagne. LOL (insert pic)
So we ate and had mimosas and enjoyed the moment. While impatiently waiting for awards. Of course the Welch sisters took the overall place for 5k and 10k. One ran the 5k and the other ran the 10k… little sneaky turkeys. They could of gave someone else a chance hahaha… But who can blame them right? They finally get to my age group- 30 to 39 and guess who gets called for 1st place……… Yea buddy! This girl right here! First freaking place for my age group. I am beyond stoked. Hows that for the first race of the year. Talk about setting the bar high! Its awesome.
So I'm going to go finish gloating in my victory and enjoy this moment a little longer. 2 weeks till the marathon. Cant wait for that one and to just have it over with LOL . I hope we don't have rain this year. And I hope we have a tailwind that helps carry me along. :) This is going to be an EPIC year, EPIC!!!!
Peace, Love, and RUN!!!
~ RunnerGirl
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