I feel good!

This morning I drove to the Race for Pace in chilly temps, some gusts of wind, and a drizzle. Fortunately, the rain stopped about 30 minutes before the race started, and you could even almost make out the sun behind some clouds. But the wind did blow off and on.

I ended up wearing the Superman shirt and cape with a long-sleeved pink Under Armour shirt underneath (it clashed, but I figured the pink made it more Supergirlish). I wore navy leggins/tight-like capris with gray shorts with teal borders over the leggins. It was a look, let me tell you. I had a windbreaker on, but I decided just before the gun went off, that I did not need it, so I tied it around my waist.

This was the first 5k I had run with an iphone playing music. I think it helped. I was singing (mouthing the words) for first mile or so. Eventually that ended. I also started off smiling, because I felt good. Maybe it was the Superman shirt or cape...

My family was supposed to be waiting near the end of the race, just before the final (awful!) hill, but they actually got there just before the race started, so I got to see them during my first minute too. That was great. If they had not been on the other side of the road, I would have thrown them my windbreaker, since it was serving no purpose.

Throughout the race, I tried to run a little faster down the hills to try to make up for how slowly I run uphill. I am 95 percent sure I can walk up a hill faster than I can run, but I refuse to walk.

When I got to the halfway point, I checked the time and was shocked to see it was only 9:13 (the race started right on time at 9 a.m.). I knew there was no way I could ran back as fast, but at that moment, I was pretty sure I could run the race in 30 minutes, maybe less. That really helped propel me.

The final 1/2 mile (maybe even less than that, but I felt like a mile) was brutal, up the biggest hill. My family was not at the bottom, but I figured they were just close to the top.

Even though my pace was super slow, I saw that it was 9:25, so I figured surely I could make it up the hill in five minutes. Seeing my family within a minute or two helped, and I pushed as much as I could, considering I was running faster than I normally do during my weekly runs.

When I reached the top, I only had to run down the driveway, which is probably a couple hundred feet. I had almost nothing left to give, but I could see the clock at just over 28 minutes, so I ran (which was more like a fast jog).

I ended up finishing in about 29:21. I was smiling (and panting, and sweating, and could barely walk).

But I had a good race. I am really proud of myself.

And, almost best of all, I got a medal for first place in my group.

Yeah, SuperGirl. As a friend on Facebook said, it must have been the cape.

Race for Pace

I completed the Race for Pace in 28:55.

If I would have run the race about three weeks ago, when I was working out like crazy, that time time might have been a little disappointing. But I have to keep telling myself over and over that I am 40. Unfortunately, saying it does not help me accept it all that much. Not that I am 40; I am cool with that. But that I am past my running prime. But proof of that was right before me: I ran into a former student whom I beat by about two and a half minutes when I ran the race two years. This year, he bested me by seven and a half minutes.

I know I should be focused on my finishing the race in under 30 minutes, which is great, considering I have been running about once a week. And I am absolutely proud of myself, particularly considering that I struggled a bit during my runs lately. I was not convinced I could do it in under 30 minutes. But I did it.

A few other notes:

It was cold, probably about 35-degrees at race time, but sunny. My running gear consisted of a long-sleeved t-shirt, a windbreaker, yoga pants, socks as gloves, and a flexible knee brace I used to wear at the beginning of this century when I ran several times a week. I unzipped the windbreaker during the last 2/3 of the mile, and maybe even took it off. The socks on my hands also came off about that time (I did not have gloves, but those babies worked great, even for nose-wiping purposes, as gross as that sounds, but it was cold).

I am happy to report that I was almost pain-free the entire time (the knee brace was a good call); even my feet hurt very little, though during the first mile, two of my toes were numb from the cold! I have this odd breathing pattern, which I tried to replicate when I was lying in bed, but couldn't. Regardless, it seems to work for me, and, almost as important, I am not wheezing and gasping as I seem to always notice some people do during these races.

I started off strong, kept a pretty steady pace, struggled a bit near the end up the last hill, but "kicked it in" as best as I could the last tenth of a mile. Having my friend Diane there cheering me on really helped. As I was struggling up the last hill, she made me laugh (or at least smile as I was out of breath) when she yelled, "Go, Faith! Don't embarrass me." 

During the last mile, a woman who I determined was somewhere near my age (which impressed me, because I am lousy at figuring out ages) passed me. I thought about pushing myself even more, in case she was going to be the difference between my getting third place and fourth place. But in the end, the last hill was too much for me, and I could not go any faster. I convinced myself to just keep going as I was so I could finish in under 30 minutes

When the time came for my age group awards, the person they announced for third place was that woman who passed me. I could not believe it! Oddly enough, when I checked my results online that evening, I was listed as being in third place in my age group. I emailed the race director about it, who just emailed me a bit ago saying she would look into it. I admit the competitor in me is disappointed to think they made a mistake that cost me getting my name mentioned and a medal, but the mature gal in me is going to keep telling myself this:

I am 40, I finished the race in under 29 minutes, and I am proud of this body!