running: the dawn

Subtitle: the day it all came together

Right now, I feel so overwhelmed with positive emotions, that I’m not sure that I can give a great “recap” of the race.  Since my race was so fantastic I may start imagining things like sunshine and roses blooming, little woodland creatures encouraging me along the way and magical waterfalls where I quenched my thirst.  Hopefully I will not succumb that that level of fairytale, but we shall see.  With these rose-colored (sub 1:50) glasses its hard to see the fine print…

One of my favorite things about this race (I have a feeling that I’m going to use that phrase a lot…) was that it didn’t start until 10am!  Of course I was having a hard time staying asleep with the anxiety and excitement, so I got up about 7am.  My partners in crime KT and Fidi were planning on getting to my house around 8 so we could get to the start early enough for them to register.  This gave me plenty of time to gather myself together. I was having a really hard time deciding what to wear.  Shorts?  Capris? Long sleeve?  Arm warmers?  Apparently I have too many options.  I checked the weather forecast like 47 times as I was hemming and hawing.  I finally settled on my Zensah 3/4 pants, a tank, and optional arm warmers.

Then I knew I needed to eat something.  I prepared my usual bagel with peanut butter and jelly but was only able to stomach about half of it.  I did pack a nalgene full of gatorade and some powerbar energy chews that my mom had brought me with me to eat later.  While I was eating I got some texts from the gang saying that they were running a few minutes behind schedule so I had a little more time that I had originally thought I would.

The night before I’d been searching on the internet and found a pace chart calculator here.  I was curious exactly how my goal of 1:53 broke down mile by mile.  Honestly, looking through that list of numbers almost psyched me out completely.  After my “tempo” run on Thursday when I struggled to maintain an 8:17 pace for 5 miles, I was doubtful that I could pull of that kind of speed for 13.1 miles.  I decided that with my extra time, I would write out the miles and goal times on a slip of paper.  At first I didn’t really know what I was planning on doing with the paper and I felt really nervous every time I looked at it.  When Mr. Dawn got up right before we left I asked him what I should do and in his wisdom he reminded me that this race is a practice for the marathon.  I should try keeping the pace I want with me for this race, that way I will know if it works for me.  Something about that moment calmed me down.  I remembered that while I was aiming for a goal for this race, my real objective is the marathon in June.  This race was about preparing for that.

I love, love, LOVE this picture!  That is my amazing husband getting up to see me off.  He and my mom were planning on getting there in time for the start but didn’t need to go as early as we did.  I feel like this is a perfect illustration of how he and I feel about running.  It makes him tired.  It makes me smile

The others rolled up sometime after 8 and we had a little more prep to do (neither of them had eaten any kind of breakfast which is no good!) before we hit the road at 8:30.

Here is where I will insert some of my complaints about the race.  First: the online information was not very informative at all.  We were told to park in D6, which is fine.  But it took some doing to figure out how to get from where I live to that parking lot.  We didn’t know how many water stations to expect along the course, where the start line was going to be, and the course map was a really fuzzy pdf that did not fair well when enlarged.

Regardless of these hurdles, we found the spot and made our way to the registration tent.  I hopped in line to pick up my packet and the other two got in the much longer lines to register.  I had my race number on and timing device in place in no time at all.  Our next goal was to locate a place to use the restroom.  This was where I first noticed another short-fall of this race: no port-a-potties.  Anywhere.  The start, nope.  On the course, nothing.  Didn’t end up bothering me much, but I’m sure there were others that this affected quite significantly.

Finally Mr. Dawn and my mom showed up and we were able to snap some “before” pictures.

My mom is so cute!  You can see where I get my joy from

This picture makes me laugh SO MUCH.  First of all we each look terrified and/or skeptical.  Part of the reason for our inquisitive looks is the fact that there was no clear starting line.  Shortly before we took this picture there was a random surge of people towards an open spot on center campus.  My mom had just whipped out the camera and I really wanted a picture before we started.  I didn’t realize that there must have been a silent countdown going on somewhere behind me because as soon as the picture was taken the crowd started running and we ended up practically at the end of the line.

I’m used to there being some kind of an announcer during the pre-race time.  Someone constantly telling us how much time there was and when we should start lining up.  At least I would have appreciated a sound-fog horn, gun blast, even a bullhorn, something to tell us when it started.  It was the strangest beginning of any race that I’ve been to.

The first mile, I was playing catch-up from snafu at the starting line.  While I ended up really enjoying the course, the first few miles were ridiculous.  The “start” had been wide which allowed for the group to spread out and stay relatively close to the front.  Then almost immediately we were herded onto paths around campus, barely wide enough to run three across.  It was dangerous to say the least.  I found myself shoved to the outside and had to dodge benches, trashcans, and other various items commonly found on college campuses.  The first water station did help to thin it out a bit, but it wasn’t until after mile 5 that I felt like I had room to breath.

My ipod was right in step.  Oh, that is until mile 2.  Then it kept getting further and further off the mile markers.  Luckily, it was calculating the miles to be longer than they actually were, which made me feel pretty confident about my training paces (at least it meant that I’ve been running faster/longer, rather than shorter/slower).

The course was two loops around a 6.5 mile course.  What made it an ideal situation for spectators though was that we cruised through the center of campus 4 times, two with each loop.  That way the Mr. and mom could just hang out instead of rushing from spot to spot.  After passing by them for the first time, we headed out and around two little lakes.  It was really nice to be off road and on a somewhat more forgiving packed gravel path.  The trees there were awesome protection from the wind.  That was the only time I regretted not running with a camera.  It was really beautiful.

This is the end of loop one, about 6.5 miles.  I had warmed up and taken off my arm sleeves.  If you look closely you can see that mom happened to snap the picture mid-flight.  See the black object suspended in the air?  Nice.

Shortly after this I ended up running with a girl for almost a half a mile and upon realizing that are paces were so similar I decided to do something I’ve never done before: talk to a fellow racer!  I took out my earbud and chatted her up.  This was her first half marathon although she ran track in high school.  It was fun to have someone to chat back and forth with for awhile.  It came at the perfect time too.  This was the beginning of the second loop and the section where it was most windy and I probably would have been tempted to slow down otherwise.  After about three miles she slowed down, or I sped up, either way we fell out of step and I went on ahead on my own.

All that was left was the lap around the ponds and it would be over.  I was still pacing pretty far ahead of my goal.  I kept doing mental checks the whole race, “Ok, how does this feel?  Can I sustain this pace?  Will I need to slow down?”  I don’t know what got into me, but everything just felt so right.  My knee didn’t bother me at all.  I loved carrying my own water.  The pace band was the best idea ever!

Here I am less than a half a mile from the finish line.  Still feeling amazing!

I’m pretty sure this is after I crossed the mat.  I was pretty focused coming into the chute and here I look a little too distracted to still be running.

And Fidi was amazing!!! 2:07 for his first race ever!  That’s ridiculous.

I was very proud of us

KT also finished super strong with a 2:16!  I kept telling her how amazing this is, but I don’t think she really believed me until I told her that my first half was 2:28.  Then she seemed to be happy with her time.  It’s all about perspective, right?

Hands-down my favorite picture of the day.  Look at us compared to the “before” shot.  That is what running does for your soul, it breeds joy from within.

Official time:
1:46:25

Splits:
53:16
53:10 (a negative split!  sure, it’s only 6 seconds, but whatever)