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| [Theresa, Me, Amanda] Everyone else was taking a whiz. |
We all know that 5k's suck. The suck is minimized when you invite all of your friends to be tortured with you. I was motivated to do this particular race mainly because of the cheap registration fee...only $20 if you signed up in groups of four! Since I have a lot of friends who are easily peer pressured, I knew I could snatch at least three more people.
It has been gorgeous so far this December and today was no exception. Low to mid 40s, minimal wind...the sun even decided to make an appearance (Thank you, Dani, for the sunglasses!!!). We met up early and went for a 2 mile warm up. My only concern about today, of course, was keeping my GERD symptoms at bay. I felt alright-ish this morning but decided to take a Zantac in hopes it would prevent any symptoms during the race. I felt ok during the warm up as far as the nausea, but I was burping a lot.
At the start, my runner friend, Tamara, noticed there was no timing pad which lead us to believe the start was gun timed rather than chip timed. What did these serious b!t*he$ do? GET UP FRONT, of course! Seconds mean a lot during a 5k!!
The first mile was mostly around the Chase building. We did a little loop around the area before heading up (literally up) Heatherdown Drive to State Street. The rest of the race went up (yes, up some more) State Street to County Line. There were definitely some flat sections mixed in there. I can't say the course was hilly...not at all. It was just a gradual incline with two tiny hills (the one in mile one and the one at the finish). I probably would have PR'd if we went the opposite direction!
Mile one [6:44]. I knew I just needed to keep my other miles in the low 7s to get sub 22 minutes. Despite that, I wanted to try to keep my miles just under 7 minutes. The first mile felt ok regarding my GERD symptoms but when we hit that hill and my breathing increased, I noticed it was becoming harder to breathe (did anyone else just sing Maroon 5?!). I tried to block out what I was feeling because I knew I had something special coming up. Jimmy and James were going to be cheering me on just after the mile mark!!! I was so excited to see them. It meant so much to have them there. When they saw me, I heard Jimmy tell him "There's mommy!" When James saw me, he had the biggest smile on his face an started clapping. OMG, so precious!!! It brought temporary tears to my eyes.
At this point, my legs felt amazing but my chest and throat were in so much pain (at least I wasn't nauseous). I kept looking at my watch and couldn't seem to get my pace faster than 7:25. Even the parade crowd didn't seem to give me that extra boost I needed to go faster (in case you are lost, there was a Christmas parade that followed the race...it was definitely a plus to have the crowd there). Mile 2 [7:21]. Mile three was the same story. Fresh legs that just couldn't make themselves go because my chest was hurting so bad. UGH. It's very frustrating that I can't seem to control these symptoms. Mile 3 [7:20].
The race was spot on for the distance. My Garmin read 3.11 miles. My last 0.11 was at an average 6:09 pace (this is where we had that final incline/hill). As I was approaching the finish, I noticed the clock read 21:46. I thought I had a chance to make it under 22 minutes. If it weren't for the hill, I'm sure I would have beat the clock. BOOO! My official time:
22:04!!!
I'm still extremely proud of my time. My second fastest 5k finish!! Although I'm incredibly excited about how I'm able to tolerate racing with these awful symptoms, it is very frustrating that I can't run to my fullest potential. It's frustrating to run a race and have your legs feel good but not be able to go faster because you feel like you are going to die of chest pain. BLAH! Until this crap subsides, I will continue running happy because it's a blessing to have legs that run. At least this is all going down in the winter when it sucks to run, anyway!!
Shout out to all of my friends who ran today. Everyone put on a great performance! We need to torture ourselves [together] more often.
It has been gorgeous so far this December and today was no exception. Low to mid 40s, minimal wind...the sun even decided to make an appearance (Thank you, Dani, for the sunglasses!!!). We met up early and went for a 2 mile warm up. My only concern about today, of course, was keeping my GERD symptoms at bay. I felt alright-ish this morning but decided to take a Zantac in hopes it would prevent any symptoms during the race. I felt ok during the warm up as far as the nausea, but I was burping a lot.
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| Part of The A Team pre-race! Highlight of the photo: Marion's stance. [Amanda, me, Theresa, Amber, Debbie, Dani, Marion] |
At the start, my runner friend, Tamara, noticed there was no timing pad which lead us to believe the start was gun timed rather than chip timed. What did these serious b!t*he$ do? GET UP FRONT, of course! Seconds mean a lot during a 5k!!
The first mile was mostly around the Chase building. We did a little loop around the area before heading up (literally up) Heatherdown Drive to State Street. The rest of the race went up (yes, up some more) State Street to County Line. There were definitely some flat sections mixed in there. I can't say the course was hilly...not at all. It was just a gradual incline with two tiny hills (the one in mile one and the one at the finish). I probably would have PR'd if we went the opposite direction!
Mile one [6:44]. I knew I just needed to keep my other miles in the low 7s to get sub 22 minutes. Despite that, I wanted to try to keep my miles just under 7 minutes. The first mile felt ok regarding my GERD symptoms but when we hit that hill and my breathing increased, I noticed it was becoming harder to breathe (did anyone else just sing Maroon 5?!). I tried to block out what I was feeling because I knew I had something special coming up. Jimmy and James were going to be cheering me on just after the mile mark!!! I was so excited to see them. It meant so much to have them there. When they saw me, I heard Jimmy tell him "There's mommy!" When James saw me, he had the biggest smile on his face an started clapping. OMG, so precious!!! It brought temporary tears to my eyes.
At this point, my legs felt amazing but my chest and throat were in so much pain (at least I wasn't nauseous). I kept looking at my watch and couldn't seem to get my pace faster than 7:25. Even the parade crowd didn't seem to give me that extra boost I needed to go faster (in case you are lost, there was a Christmas parade that followed the race...it was definitely a plus to have the crowd there). Mile 2 [7:21]. Mile three was the same story. Fresh legs that just couldn't make themselves go because my chest was hurting so bad. UGH. It's very frustrating that I can't seem to control these symptoms. Mile 3 [7:20].
The race was spot on for the distance. My Garmin read 3.11 miles. My last 0.11 was at an average 6:09 pace (this is where we had that final incline/hill). As I was approaching the finish, I noticed the clock read 21:46. I thought I had a chance to make it under 22 minutes. If it weren't for the hill, I'm sure I would have beat the clock. BOOO! My official time:
22:04!!!
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| A strong finish! [Pic courtesy of Theresa] |
I'm still extremely proud of my time. My second fastest 5k finish!! Although I'm incredibly excited about how I'm able to tolerate racing with these awful symptoms, it is very frustrating that I can't run to my fullest potential. It's frustrating to run a race and have your legs feel good but not be able to go faster because you feel like you are going to die of chest pain. BLAH! Until this crap subsides, I will continue running happy because it's a blessing to have legs that run. At least this is all going down in the winter when it sucks to run, anyway!!
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| Great group of successful ladies...and where is Tamara?! [Front: Amanda, Marion, Me, Theresa; Back: Debbie, Dani, Emily, Megan, Amber] |
Shout out to all of my friends who ran today. Everyone put on a great performance! We need to torture ourselves [together] more often.
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