First of all, I'd like to put out there my profound appreciation and thanks to Carol. She is my running buddy, my future half marathon partner, my cheerleader, my friend. She puts up with my insecurities about what is possible having more confidence in me than I do in myself. I guess I really do have the confidence, it's just that I sometimes ~ well, most of the time ~ let the butterflies take over and then question (mostly in a fun way) what I'm doing. Carol found this race in Harwich MA ~ Yup, down the Cape; yup 2 hours away ~ to do as part of our half prep. Hmmm, an over-nighter down the cape; a ladies night. Sounds wonderful; but this time it was all about nutrition and prep and sleep and treating our bodies like temples as opposed to a bender on the town (not that I have many/any/well, maybe some/ benders on the town).
The race was on Sunday morning, October 4. So we head on down about noon on Saturday. It takes just about 2 hours. Carol drives - which I enjoyed being a passenger this trip; which I think allowed me to relax a bit. We got to the school in time for packet pickup so something we didn't need to worry about the next day. Then we decided to drive the route ~ at least to the best of the abilities that we could based on a really crappy route map. Logically thinking ... driving 7.3 miles at approximately 30MPH is going to take you about 15 minutes. Throw in traffic or a stop light or a wrong turn and that can easily turn into 20-25 minutes. Wait a minute!!!! 20-25 minutes to **DRIVE** the route that we would be running??? Yes, a fact that did not go un-noticed. It seemed to take forever to drive the route that we would be running the next day! Doing a little math and basing on our one and only 8 mile run timing and the wolves 10K, I figured that I should finish in between 1:10 to 1:30. After a bit of shopping, we went out to a local place for dinner and then to the hotel to turn in early.
Going into the race, I figured it would be more of a mental exercise than a physical one, and I knew that if necessary that I could walk; so I had no doubt that I'd finish. I had wanted to make it an alternate "Proof of Qualifying Time" for Disney 1/2, but found out earlier that it was not allowed since it was an odd distance? Huh? Come on Disney! It's a officially timed distance and it's over 10K. Oh well!
I'm a planner; and I have no idea if everyone mentally maps out a race beforehand, but I do and I find it helps me. Right now, Carol's comfortable pace is a bit slower than mine... but she is getting faster all the time ~ so the reverse may be true very soon. Anyway, I debated all week if I wanted to run with Carol or venture out on my own. Remembering the 8 miler we did with Kimberly, it just seemed sooooo easy likely because we did it together and encouraged and distracted each other. At the last minute, I was feeling some achiness in my right hip and foot (which 4 days earlier I had strained doing some hall-way kick boxing).
The next 2 days, my right knee bothered me. I was concerned. At the 5.6M Trail Run 2 weeks later; my knee also bothered me.... but maybe that's due to the trail ~ gotta also capture that race in this blog! But a 2.5 miler 3 days ago was fine. Not complaining - just observing. And at this point still doing these distances for the first time, I'm not sure what to expect or what is normal for me recovery-wise.
So, my very first race beyond a 10K distance, was a complete success - (well almost if not for the knee which I'm still watching); Loads of butterflies before; Carol is a saint for putting up with me; Too much analyzing during - but that's me; and complete bliss after.