Milltown Firecracker 5K Race Recap

All things considered, I didn't do too bad of a job!!  Had I these results a year or two ago, I'd be angry with myself, but things are different, my situation is different, and I'm almost giddy about how well I did.  Again, all things considered.

The Night Before

By now you know that whenever I run a race I have certain things that I like to stick to.   I have a routine the night before and certain things I like a certain way the day of.  All of it went out the window for this race.

Usually I like to feel prepared for a race.  I make sure I'm in good running condition before and I have a well planned out schedule for the entire week beforehand, with goals of beating my PR.  (Of course, until recently anyway.)  There was zero prep time for this race.  I didn't even get to stretch too much in the days leading up to it, forget about running!

The night before was no different.  There was a group of us running in this race, and I was staying at my friend KL's house night night before with both of my kids.  Of course, we were up too late chatting it up, making Jell-O shots & having a few (maybe too many?) drinks.  We were staying in KL's family's camper next to their house, and both kids decided that they wanted to share the bed with me instead of sleeping in their own in the other room.  Most of the night was filled with kicks to the side from restless toddlers instead of actual sleep, so it's not surprising that between that & the white noise of the air conditioning I slept through my alarm leaving only half an hour to get ready and also get both of my kids ready for the day!

Getting Started

I had to focus my energy on getting the kids ready for the day before I left so that left me barely paying attention to what I was doing for myself.  In the shuffle of everything I didn't get to eat my bagel with Nutella - not only was there not enough time to make it, but there wouldn't have been enough time for me to digest enough to feel OK running.  I didn't even have enough time to get coffee in me!!  I did manage to get down a Nature Valley Crunchy Apple Crisp bar and one of the Gatorade fuel packs.  Somehow I actually felt OK after that.  I guess the pre-race gitters were just as powerful as my morning coffee!!

One of my friends LMG (who I ran with in December) was also running with me & in a similar situation.  She hasn't run for a very long time either and was hoping that the two of us would be in about the same shape.  In December we were pretty much at the same level for everything and were able to stay with each other for the entirety of the race.  We knew KL was going to take off since she is one of the fastest runners we know, and LMG's husband TG we were pretty sure was going to be right there with Kristin.

We made our way to the starting line with only moments to spare.  I got my MMR app ready & started my newly updated running playlist, which was actually quite angry!!  Seconds before we started I got a huge rush of, "OMG, what am I doing, this is INSANE!" and then Insane Clown Posse's "Let's Go All The Way" came on and I got a huge burst of energy.  I was ready, let's DO this!!

Setting The Pace

I knew right out of the gate that I couldn't go too fast.  My body felt different, I knew I was slower and I didn't want to burn out too quickly.  I had three goals for this race - 1.  Finish  2.  Run the whole race  3.  Finish in under 40 minutes.  If I was going to finish I had to pace myself.  Right away I felt myself struggling to keep up with LMG.  I pushed it for a while, but before we even hit a mile I had to pull back.  I was hoping we could have run together, but I was really happy that she was doing so well and I definitely didn't want to be holding her back.  The good news is that I was able to see her for the entirety of the race, with the exception of a few of the turns, so I was never that far behind her.  It kept me focused; if I had a visual and thought that it was even remotely possible to catch up with her it kept me motivated to push on.

In so many races I have done there has been one person that I use as a focus, that I have a silent race with within the race.  One person who is maybe a bit faster than me but not so fast that it would be impossible to catch up to, and for this race it was LMG for sure.  Trying to catch up definitely fueled me in those moments of despair, and there were plenty!

Fun Motivation

One of the cool things about this race is that it loops past where KL lives a total of three times.  So back at her house some of our friends & family waited outside with our kids, looking for us to run by.  And I have to say, the first time I ran by and saw my daughter running out to wave at me my heart fluttered and I got a little emotional.  I have never brought my kids to a race before, usually because it's far away and not really convenient for someone to sit there for half an hour or more with them.  But this just worked out and I am so happy it did.  They weren't there the first time we passed the house, but they were the second time.  I'm happy that they got to see me running, even if I was struggling.  I want them to set goals like this for themselves and to work towards them, even if it's hard.  I want them to know that it's OK to struggle with something, and I am so happy that it gave me a chance to clearly lead by example.

I heard the MMR announce in my ear the one mile mark, and I was shocked to hear that I had done it in only 10:49!  I thought it would be in the 12's, so that gave me another surge of energy.  I ran the first mile without stopping but I could tell that I was running out of juice.  I wanted to put off walking for as long as possible because I know what happens with that - Once I break from running I will continue to break from running.  I don't know why, it just happens.  Maybe there is some kind of science behind this?  So I ran about 1.25 miles and went to a walk long enough to catch my breath a little bit.  It was at a hill at just the same point where I had to slow down last year, only last year I slowed my running down here, I didn't walk yet. 

I want to say I walked for less than a minute.  I wanted to keep the slow parts down to a minimum.  That second mile was hard on me.  It wasn't very hot out yet but I was feeling it.  There were people running hoses for us runners to go through so I was happy to find some relief in those on occasion, but there is no way around it - this is not an easy race.  Running at home is fairly flat and the other races I have done have maybe one slight incline but that's about it.  Milltown is just very hilly and it kicked my butt.  I walked a total of three times I think.  I hope that one year I am in decent enough shape to run this whole race at in respectable time!

Finishing




Somewhere right before the 3 mile mark I met up with KL's sister CR (who I ran my first non-Color Run 5K with) and that added a bit of motivation for me.  It was good to be running with someone again, I was really starting to struggle to keep the pace up.  As we approached passing KL's house & the kids again, someone had a stereo in their driveway blaring Rocky's theme, "Gonna Fly Now".  This was both hysterical & motivational.  I knew we were nearing the end of the race and it was a nice distraction from the pain I was now feeling in my lower back.  That was quickly followed with a run past the kids and everyone who was sitting outside of the house waiting for the parade to start.  This time we were closer to them and I was able to yell out, "Hi babies!" to my kids and I heard them yelling, "Go Mommy!" as AM (LMG's mother) was encouraging them to do.  It was amazing.  My playlist promptly moved into the happy, "Ain't it Fun" by Paramore, I saw LMG & TG waiting at the finish line, and when I saw the clock I was happy to see I was under 40 minutes.

It was a great feeling to know that I had accomplished 2 out of my 3 goals for this, AND I beat my time from my last race in December.  Like I said, all things considered I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

What I am not happy about is the lack of stretching I did afterwards.  There was a lot of chaos and rushing around trying to get ready for the parade to start, I only stretched out my lower back after the finish line, I never stretched my legs,  So yesterday & today I am REALLY paying for it!

The Final results

According to the official race results, I ran 38:31.  I placed 420 out of 443, which isn't great at all but I don't care about that too much.  According to MapMyRun, I did 3.27 miles so I ran it long, in 38:20. 

I hope the next time I race I have some prep time & endurance back under my belt so I can start aiming for faster times.  But we shall see what happens.  I am just happy that I was able to do this race again & that I wasn't disappointed in the results :)

Me & LMG sharing a post-race brew as we get ready to watch the parade.  Our second race together!