Race morning diary
(Saturday)
5:15 a.m. OMG, being awake hurts. Too early. Whhhhyyyyyyy am i doing this? OMG, it is cold, too. Whhhyyyy.
5:18 a.m. Managing to keep one eye constantly open, working on prying up the second eyelid
5:20 a.m. Ha, I bet Honey Bear didn’t actually expect me to get up.
5:25 a.m. I’m like a hibernating bear that got woken too soon. Not enough sleepppp. Whhhyyyy!
5:30 a.m. A little coffee and cereal. Not really hungry, but need to eat a bit and get the caffeine flowing in my veins.
5:40-5:55 a.m. Teeth brushed, hair ponytailed, clothes thrown on, shoes tied, accessories grabbed. Thanking goodness I got all this shit together and laid out last night.
5:59 a.m. Garage door goes up. OMG, it is still dark. I had no idea. I don’t see this time of day, well, like ever.
6 a.m. Honey Bear is a sweetheart and is driving me to the race. He never went to bed! Eating half of a banana and sipping some water.
6:20 a.m. Arrive at the race site, get number pinned on to shirt, decide to wear a jacket, gloves and hat cuz it is cold. Take a potty break. Watch the sun rise all pink and purpley.
6:40 a.m. Stretch and talk to Honey Bear by the car. Jog in place a bit. People-watch. Some folks have interesting St. Patrick’s Day-themed attire. I have a green shamrock blinking light necklace on. 🙂
6:55 a.m. Say bye to Honey Bear and get closer to the starting line. Buy an ear warmer. Get my C25K and Runkeeper apps launched.
7:05 a.m. The 10K runners set off. I line up in the back of the 5K pack and wait a few more minutes, and then we’re off, too!
Race diary
Crossing the starting line of my first run-walk 5K! It is cold and I’m excited and a tad bit nervous. I start out running with my C25K W2,D3 program running on my phone. I decided to use it to try to pace myself and give myself timed walking breaks. Running is HARD! Why do I keep forgetting that?! How am I gonna keep this up? Oh, I’m doing this. Is it time to walk some yet? Oh, good, it is. Oh, no, more running! The pavement is hard! Whhhyyyyy. Ok, just focus on your breathing, try to stay close to these five or so other really slow people. These are my people. It has got to be over a mile by now, right? Yes, just barely. Sweet! Oh, no, this incline is going to happen right when my running interval starts! Hang on, you can keep running. Whew, made it. Flat walking behind a school. Oh goody, the downhill is on my next running segment! Woot, I’m flying now! Oh, look, the cops are waiting for us slow folks to get by so they can open the road back up. Nice. Hey, look, there is the finish, but I’m running past it, not through it. Surely, it has got to be two miles now, no! Not even close. OMG, whhhyyyy! Hey look, that girl lost her shoe. Annnd now she’s already ahead of me again, nice. Now I’m heading into a neighborhood, gotta be two miles now, NO! Oh, this sucks! Hey, kids with water, thank goodness! Bless their hearts. Running a loop and converging with some 10Kers, wow, seriously, this is taking a really long time and these people are already coming back! Finally, two miles! I got this shit now! Maybe I’ll make it out of this neighborhood after all. I vow to not look at the mileage again, that was stressin’ me out! Wow, that fat dude in the gray sweatsuit is doing the 10K?! He’s fucking awesome! Good for him! Meanwhile, I’m doing this 5K and I’m finally hot but I don’t want to carry this jacket! I swear if I survive this I will buy a proper wicking running jacket. Hey, the neighborhood exit, and the water kids again, YAY!!!!!!!! Couple sips, toss my cup, let’s finish this! Wooooohooooo. Oh look at all those folks already finished and walking back to their cars, wow, that’s great. Hey, I can almost see the building near the finish! I got this. It is almost over! Gotta keep doing these running intervals, though I have been walking longer stretches between now. It is in my head, not in my legs, I can keep running, it is just mental. Real runner-looking guy, clearly long finished, standing on the sidewalk yells at me “Finish strong!” Yeah man, I’m trying! Gonna try to run all the way in, oh, gotta walk a sec, ok, running again, Oh look, there is Honey Bear by the finish! Waving to him, and watching the clock over the finish, 49 minutes and forty-something seconds. Oh hell no, I gotta get in before it hits 50! Running hard, and I get in under the wire!!! I know it is not my real time anyway cuz it was for the 10k start, but hey, a little mini-goal was great motivation at the finish! Chick cuts my chip off my shoe, I grab water, and run into a lady I met at the start. We chat a bit, then I go find Honey Bear and get my picture taken by the race sign.
Wooohoooo, I did it! That was awesome! And like death! And fun! Like fun death!!!!!! Haahaaa, endorphins are fabulous.
Oh, and my official time was just a hair under 45 minutes!
Post-race diary
Honey Bear and I go to Denny’s to eat, and it is so hard to believe it is barely after 8 when a whole day seems to have passed already. It takes awhile for us to get our food because they were really busy. I have all this excitement and am all jacked up on energy I can hardly sit still! I text my friends and update my Facebook and babble on and on to Honey Bear. I drink a buncha water and coffee. Finally I eat eggs, hashbrowns and SIX pieces of bacon! And some of his fruit.
After we get home I’m still hungry! No one told me that I would eat ALL day after a race, but I basically snacked constantly between meals. Usually healthy snacks but still, I couldn’t believe my appetite! And I had to pee all day, too! Keeping hydrated has its drawbacks, LOL!
I stretched a lot after we got home, and eventually I napped after some of the coffee and race energy wore off. Later in the evening I got a massage, and it seemed even better than usual because of the soreness that was starting to set in. I did a little shopping before the massage appointment, and I bought that wicking jacket I promised myself, and on sale at that. And also a pair of running capris.
By late evening I’m pretty sore, and moaning randomly when I have to get up or switch my position on the couch. Mostly it was just whining. 🙂 The worst of the soreness was in my upper legs, a first since I started this adventure in running. Adjusting my sleeping position during the night sucked, but surprisingly I was able to get out of bed fairly easily the next morning. Not anywhere near as bad off as my post-Day 1 shin death experience. In fact, my shins are doing pretty well. And my upper leg soreness has eased, and I’m feeling it more in my calves now. But overall I feel way better than I expected! And I freaking ran part of a 5K, how ’bout them apples?!! 😉
Glitter & Rainbows 