The Night Before
Since this race was in Spotswood, not far from my mom's house in Old Bridge, I spent the night before there again with wifey, the boy & the girl. It appears to be tradition now - I've done 3 5K's, all of which I have spent the night before at my mom's house. This time though my sister (MFC) happened to be spending the night there as well with her puppy, Mr. Peter, so it was a full house! The plan was originally for wifey & the kids to wait at the finish line for me, but that changed & just wifey came courtesy of Grandma's Baby-Sitting Service. They are wonderful, I recommend them!
My first concern was that I am allergic to dogs. Since I am still nursing the boy my previous go-to allergy medicine has been a no-no due to its propensity to dry up breast milk. However, at this point I am not as worried about that because he's a toddler and isn't far away from weaning himself anyway. Plus, it's a 24 hour medication and I wanted to take it ONE time, ONE pill. I didn't want to risk not being able to breathe in the morning and having it affect my performance and I felt that the risk was minimal in comparison to the benefit. So we stopped at Walgreens on the way to my mom's house and I took my first allergy pill in over three and a half years. I am happy to report that it worked splendidly, there was hardly a show of any kind of allergic reaction to Mr. Peter-head (except for when I touched my eye after petting him that one time and my eye swelled & turned red, but that's totally my fault). So yay for that going right!
The second area of concern was sleep. Since I haven't seen MFC in a while due to her being locationally challenged, we ended up staying up talking much, much later than I had planned/anticipated. So I went to bed worrying about the amount of sleep that I was going to get which of course led to an even greater lack of sleep because I was then worrying about not getting any sleep. Viscous cycle! That in combination with the super mega comforter blanket that was more like an oven than a blanket and made me sweat to death after an hour caused some tossing & turning for a while. But I finally drifted off to sleep around 2am, a mere 2 hours after getting into bed. Lucky for me the boy woke up at about 3:30am, unhappy, and it took me a little while to get him back to sleep. I drifted back to sleep for a bit and then my mom's wonderful upstairs neighbors decided that 4:30am is when they need to wake up. Complete with alarms and the sounds of doggie paws on their hardwood floors above my head. A quiet people they are not. They were done bowling upstairs by about 5:30, just in time for my alarm to go off. Needless to say I was not well-rested.
Getting Started
I snoozed the alarm until about 6am, just to get a little bit of rest. I got up and made my coffee & breakfast and the boy decided that this was a good time for him to wake up as well. At this point I forced wifey to get up so that I could finish eating. She got into the shower right after that, which woke the girl up. Great. Now I have to make breakfast for everyone and I'm supposed to be getting ready myself, but wifey is in the shower. I also needed to stretch out my glute since it was still bothering me and make sure everything was in order. Ack!
Fast-forward to 7:15, I'm supposed to be leaving and I'm not even dressed, forget about stretching or rolling my glutes! Shall we say I was stressed??!! Just a bit! We get it together and head out the door around 7:30, arrive at the venue at about 7:45. Apparently their recommendation of arriving between 7am & 8am is not taken seriously at all because there was almost nobody there!! I went to the sign-in tent to pick up my race bib & t-shirt and there was only one person ahead of me. So I relaxed a bit knowing that I still had over an hour to get set up, stretched, and use the bathroom about a hundred times before getting in the starting line. They actually had someone from Snap Fitness run a stretching session which I happily participated in and felt great afterwords! My glutes weren't in as much discomfort and I had actually warmed up a bit from the freezing state I was in! I also ran into one of my friends (CR) there, which was pretty cool. It was her first 5K and I'm still a newbie too so we were having some of the same race day gitters.
In all honestly, my gitters were pretty bad! I kept having a nightmare where I was the absolute last person and they stopped blocking the roads off and I had no idea where I was or where I was going because I was so far behind and I ended up completely lost. Or It's go time and I think I'm running but really it's not running at all and it's a big joke and so ridiculous that I would even consider signing-up for a 5K. Obviously neither of those things happened, and hopefully this will be the last time I fear that!
Setting the Pace
One of my biggest difficulties with running outside is setting my pace. Since I run mainly on a treadmill, I don't even have to pay attention to how fast I'm going or regulating myself that much since my feet just fall and I just need to stay on the machine. There's not much thinking involved or regulating on my part, it just kind of happens. But when I get outside, I tend to take off running waayy faster than I am used to and I start to burn out or lose steam early on. So I made sure not to do that today.
After everyone spread out a little, people ahead of me started walking and I passed them. This helped calm my fears hat I was going to come in absolute last. And soon enough I got into a bit of a race with who I will call Orange Shirt Guy. At first I found him annoying, but I am actually thankful for him because he kind of kept me going and on top of my game. A few minutes into the run he whizzed past me and then halted to a walk in front of me. Kind of annoying since he obviously saw me since he had just passed me, but whatever. So I went around him and kept my pace. A few minutes later he runs up next to me and we're kind of keeping the same pace. In my head, I'm thinking, "Oh yeah, you want to race buddy?! Let's GO!!" But I know that's stupid and I don't want to burn myself out, and I definitely didn't want to do any walking today. So I just ignored him as much as possible and rocked on to Adele in my ear buds. After a while, he starts walking again and falls back. I was sure this was the last of him.
We hit the first water station and the attendant is calling out "Mile 1" and the time. My jaw about hit the floor when he said 9:30!! I could not believe that, since I have never run a mile that fast before and I certainly didn't feel like I was pushing too hard!! Shortly after this, Orange Shirt Guy speeds past me again. I try to speed up a little bit to stay on his tail, but he's going too fast so I let myself fall back a little bit. Again, I didn't want to burn out and stop running. I started losing some steam having been overtaken by Orange Shirt Guy and the pain in my hip/glute resurfacing. There was a second where I was actually fighting with myself to keep running. I had a moment of, "Running is stupid, I'm never doing this again, I'm in pain and I paid money for this, blah, blah, blah..." and at just that moment the right music came on & I got some cheers from two little kids sitting on their front lawn watching everyone run by. And then I saw I was coming up on Orange Shirt Guy who had started walking again! Haha! I can still beat him! I ran past Orange Shirt Guy and that was the last I saw of him until the end. Talk about getting what you need when you need it! Thank you universe!
Keep Moving
The rest of the run was kind of a blur...I started to get lost in my thoughts for a little bit, which was nice because while I was in some pain, before I knew it I was at the 2 mile mark! They had people directing us at every turn so there was no way for me to get lost, there were people cheering all along the way - some volunteers, some people just sitting in front of their houses, some people just driving in their cars - and that gave me extra steam to keep the run up when my hip and glute so desperately wanted me to quit.
I finally turned the last corner and could see the crowd of people at the finish line and what appeared to be a clock. The end!! Yay!! I kicked it into high gear and it was a sprint to the finish. I could hear that Orange Shirt Guy was approaching me from behind (he had a distinct gasp when he was struggling for air), and there was no way I was going to let him beat me!
As I got closer to the clock, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it was at 29:3x!! If I hurried, I might be able to make it in under 30 minutes!!! Full speed ahead baby! That is, until I saw the girl ahead of me fall flat on her face. Apparently her hamstring was cramping up pretty bad on her. She did get back up and tried to run, but she was done - she couldn't even walk anymore. There were a few people next to her helping to carry her, so I was OK with pushing ahead but I felt bad for her because she was so close to the finish line. In my distraction I approached the finish line & didn't catch what my final time was! Oh no! How did I not see it??!! Aaahhh!!
The second I crossed the line I was accosted by what we called the Ticket Nazi. She approached each runner as they finished & ripped off a stub from their bib to help record their times. I (along with many other people) ripped this off prior to the race because nobody told us we needed it, and it was labeled as a raffle ticket, and it made pinning the bib to my shirt more difficult. So, not only did I almost run her over/fall on my face trying not to hit her because she jumped right in front of me the second I crossed the finish line without allowing for time to slow down, but then she yelled at me for ripping my "race" (read: raffle) ticket off. I wanted to be like, "Move before I plow into you crazy lady!!", but she was already yelling at the next person who did the same thing as me. I tried to find out how we would get out end times but she blew me off and was again yelling at the next person. A regular Miss. Sunshine.
As I finished my wonderful interaction with her and searched the crowd for wifey I was approached by Orange Shirt Guy, who told me my time was either right under or over 30:00. He came in at 30:16 and I was ahead of him by a few seconds. (YES!!) He then thanked me for setting a pace for him to try to keep up with and admitted to liking the race we had going on with each other. I agreed, and we had a little chat about it and I decided then that I didn't dislike him. Our conversation got cut off when I saw wifey in the crowd, waiving my "race ticket" in the air towards me.
It was when I saw her that finishing hit me. Between the hamstring girl, the Ticket Nazi, and Orange Shirt Guy, I barely had a second to realize what I had just accomplished!! I ran a 5K in about 30-ish minutes!! Possibly under! I did it! I didn't come in last, I didn't get lost, I actually beat a bunch of high school soccer players! It was a wonderful moment, and I'm so glad she was there to reel me back into reality. We waited for CR to finish and she did amazing for her first run, 33:51. It was also the first time she ran straight through the 3.1 miles! So a big day for all of us! So much fun, so happy I did this, and I can't wait until wifey is ready to join me :) As always, thanks for your support! And thank you to anyone still reading this blog all these weeks later. You're keeping me accountable whether you know it or not, and that's what is going to help make all of this stick for a long time.
The After Effects
I don't know if this is at all related, but I figure I should mention it.
After the race we went back to my mom's house, I showered, and we all got ready to go out to a celebratory brunch - I was craving waffles in the worst way! After my shower something funky happened with my eyes - it was like I had stared at a bright light and a portion of my vision was blurry and dark. You know, like when too many flashes from a camera go off in front of your face? And I started feeling a little shaky and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything post-race yet so maybe my sugar was a little low. It's never really mattered that much before, and I don't often eat right after I'm done running so I found it odd. But I ate a few cookies anyway, just in case. A few minutes later the vision cleared up so I assumed it was just a low blood sugar thing and that I needed to eat. Good thing we were on our way to brunch!
Then right before we left I got a little bit of a headache. Nothing major, and again, I thought I just needed to eat. But the closer we got to the restaurant the worse it got. By the time we pulled in I had a full-fledged migraine, something I haven't had in over 10 years! I used to get them all the time when I was in high school & college and then when I started taking better care of myself they went away. But this was really bad. Light sensitivity, nausea, heavy head - it was awful! I walked into the restaurant and I had to walk right out because the smell bothered me so badly. My celebratory brunch was cancelled because I couldn't even bear to be in the restaurant that I chose! It was one of those headaches that made me unable to function. I couldn't talk, I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't move. I layed down on my mother's couch and slept for about 2 hours because there was nothing else that I could do. I woke up feeling better - I still had a headache, but it was one I could function with. Even now as I type this, hours later, I still feel the remnants and hope that it's all rectified by tomorrow.
Odd. I'm not so sure that this was brought about by lack of food or low blood sugar. I have eaten plenty and it still hasn't gone away entirely. And I'm pretty sure that the funky eye thing was a warning sign that a migraine was coming on and not the result of low sugar. But I figure I should mention this in case any other runners out there have experienced anything similar. Anything in case I can avoid it from happening again!
So what a roller-coaster of a day, huh?!
WOWIES!!! So much to say! I am going to borrow from Lizzie and go bullte-style :)
ReplyDelete1. Love your interaction with Orange Shirt Guy. That happens to me a lot in races, and I often go up and thank the person later. You have to be careful not to be drawn into a competition with someone too fast, but right around your pace (as happened here). It will push you to go faster and is fun, friendly competition! Way to go!
2. i looked up your race results and it looks like 30:05!!! Yes!! at small races, they just figure out your time by when you cross the line - but this generally is not usually totally accurate since not everyone crosses the start line when the gun goes off. Depending on the size of the race, there can be a lag before you actually hit the starting line. This is why some larger races use "chips" (which can be embedded in the bid, put on your shoelace or around your ankle) and you will get a "gun time" (which is what you have) that is the time from when the gun goes off until you cross the line and a "chip time" which is from when you crossed the start line to the finish line (you run over a mat at each and this records your time accurately). this is another reason many people love to wear watches at races - they can hit "start" on their watch when they cross the start line and not just when the gun goes off (it can sometimes be a minute or more til you cross the line in big races and a reallly long time in mega races).
3. i have done that same bib thing! i have also pinned the part they want to rip off to my shirt, which causes another round of annoyed volunteers :) good lessons to learn - at small races with no chips, and even sometimes with chips, they will always pull that piece off at the end. if you look cloase next time, you will see it is just one corner of the flappy part that is the raffle section. you can tear that piece off, but leave the rest for the vols to grab.
4. i get those headaches!! google aural migraines. i got my first one about 2 yrs ago and flipped the f out b/c the vision part for me is the worst! mine start as a weird circle in the center of my eye that gets bigger and bigger until the edges leave my field of vision and i can see regular again. i can still see, but not well! and esp can't use a computer when it happens. lasts about 20 mins and then i get a nasty headache (but i am among the aural filks who don't get a migraine, just a bad headache). if i take ibuprofen as soon as i notice the twinkling i can usually avoid the worst of the headache. after the headache, my head buzzes for a few hrs. it's very odd! but my doc said nothing to worry about. mine absolutely are related to when stress, lack of sleep and lack of food meet in that sweet spot on a venn diagram, lol. i had a bunch in the year we were planning the wedding but back to 1 every 3-4 months now, which i much prefer!
5. super, duper congrats to you on this accomplishment!!! i love reading about people's races and this one is just the motivation i needed to go tackle my long run today. thank you!!! and keep running outside, this is as good as it gets for outdoor running!!
Yes, at first I thought Orange Shirt Guy would be too fast for me to keep up with so that's why I kind of ignored him at first, but was TOTALLY thankful for him later!
DeleteI am gearing up to get me a runners watch. Finances are a bit tight right now, but my b-day is coming up so we might invest in a cheaper one for that. Not too cheap though because I want it to be accurate!
I guess my sister has been lucky & done big races because she was confused about the bib ticket thing as well...nowhere on it does it say anything about leaving it on there or anything else for that matter - it only says raffle! But good to know for next time!!
Oh no! I seriously haven't had a migraine at all in at least 10 years, probably longer! Ugh! But I totally had that right combination - lack of sleep, stressful morning & not enough food. I will never, never, never not eat after a run again! I am always going to make sure that I have something right after just to take the food part out of the equation. I don't usually like to take meds for stuff, so when I felt the headache initially I assumed it was just going to be a normal headache that I could eke through without pain meds. Boy was I wrong!! And my head was not right for the whole rest of the day and even the beginning of the next day too! If I ever have that weird aural eye thingie again and my head starts to hurt, I will go ahead and take something right away. Not worth losing a whole day over!
And as always, thank you so much for your support! When it gets tough out there I can actually hear people cheering me on in my head, and you are now one of those people that comes into my mind :) So thanks!