Friday evening before the race as I was getting my outfit together I realized I had run out of peanut butter earlier in the week – doh! That meant I couldn’t have my standard PB sandwich on race morning – a ritual I love and put much faith in. So I fell asleep debating between finishing off my last banana, or using up an old Gu from my marathon that I never got around to using.
I was up by 6 and out the door shortly after 6:30 to head to Baltimore for the race. Good thing I left so early because I got on the highway going in the wrong direction at first! And just this week one of my coworkers and I were joking that our middle names should be Directionally Challenged. Too true.
I arrived at Druid Hill Park around 7 and headed to packet pick-up then pinned on my bib and walked around for a while to keep warm while I waited for the start at 8:30 (what can I say, I don’t like to feel rushed on race mornings). I slurped down my vanilla bean (pretty tasty) Gu at 8:15 and enjoyed my last few minutes of warmth inside the check in tent.
At 8:20ish everyone started heading to the starting line – and we were packed like sardines. I set my watch to the RUN feature and tried to get as close to the front as I could, but unfortunately I didn’t get very far. It was the longest 10 minutes ever. I was hopping up and down and rubbing my arms, trying to keep warm and praying for 8:30 to just get here.
Just before the start, two men playing bagpipes made their way down to the start line from the back of the pack, and everyone parted like a sea for them to get through. Then we were off.
…to a very slow start. I immediately knew that just waiting for the pack to thin out would be a terrible idea – the race was only 5 miles and my watch was showing a 9 minute mile! I starting darting around people, constantly saying “excuse me…excuse me” before reaching a new blockade of people that would break my stride. I was so completely frustrated. I knew I was wasting energy trying to get around all of these people, but this was a race! I wanted my finish time to reflect what shape I was in, not how terrible of a racer I am.
I continued to run around people and weasel my way through tiny gaps of people, all the while cursing in the back of my mind that such a big race didn’t stagger the start somehow.
Mile 1 – 7:34
When I saw that time I bolted. Adrenaline was surging through my veins and thankfully the crowd had thinned out a bit. I thought in the back of my mind that this may been a little stupid, but I didn’t care. I was angry that I wasted so much energy in the first mile but seemingly got nowhere.
I hardly even noticed the huge hill I was charging up until I saw the front runners go flying downhill to my left. I looked up and noticed a huge, curving hill ahead of me, but I barely registered it. I just keep booking it, letting my legs fly to beat out my frustration. I was thinking to myself “I’m never ever doing a race this big again!”
I’m used to weaving around people in the first half mile or so of a race, but I’d never been so packed in for a full mile, in such a short race!
I wasn’t letting go of the anger and my pace was showing it.
Mile 2 – 6:45
I was steadily passing people, hardly feeling the pace, and slowly warming up. The turn around was basically at the top of the hill around 2.3 miles per my watch. I was excited to cruise downhill for a ways, getting a major benefit off a hill I didn’t really notice running up in the first place.
When my watch hit 2.5 miles I pulled off my gloves to get some relief from the cool air. I felt so warm (and was glad the expected snowstorm hadn’t shown up yet)!
Mile 3 – 6:47
I kept pushing the pace, but I was beginning to worry that I’d run out of gas and my last mile might be painful. A couple times I hopped in behind a couple of people to force myself to back off a bit to what I thought might be a more reasonable pace, but I’d quickly get bored of following the people in front of me, and I’d run around them and get back to the quicker pace.
I pulled my headband off my head so it was resting around my neck, and suddenly I felt like I could breathe. I didn’t realize how warm it had been keeping me, but once it was off, I felt like a plastic bag was removed from my head.
Mile 4 – 6:44
My legs felt great, but my stomach was starting to ache in a bad way. I’ve never thrown up after a race (knock on wood), but I felt like my stomach was nearing its limit.
I tried my best to push the terrible first mile out of my head and focus on bringing it in strong.
1 mile. So easy and short. You’ll be done before you know it.
About half a mile from the finish, one of the girls I had passed earlier caught up to me and I tried to keep pace with her, but she breezed by me. I brushed it off and checked my watch as I raced downhilll nearer to the finish line – a 6:06 pace at that moment.
I kicked it with everything I had across the timing mat and finally was relieved. As I glanced at my watch and saw 5.12 miles, I was suddenly at peace. The first mile was a warm up, and the last 4 miles felt pretty darn good. It’s amazing what endorphins can do for you 🙂
I hurried into the tent and grabbed a banana and a cup of the best hot cocoa ever (courtesy of Zeke’s) before running slowly back to my car to head home.
35:13
Overall: 161/2878
Age Group: 5/185
PB & PRs 