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Monday, February 9, 2009

Race Report!

Well, I made it! I finished in 2:06:11. I was SO happy with that time. My goal, as I said before, was 2:20. I found out I was 18 out of 41 women in my age group, and 400 out of 682 overall. Not too shabby! At about mile 11, I looked at the time on my phone, and, thinking we had started at 8:00, I thought, "Yay, I'm right on for my 2:20 time." It wasn't until right before the finish that I realized that we hadn't started until 8:10, so I was exceeding my goal! I was so stoked.

The first 9 miles or so weren't too bad. The scenery the first few miles was definitely nothing to get excited about. We were along some railroad tracks and on the outskirts of Davis, and there was literally nothing to look at except for the tracks and some industrial buildings. It was pretty cold, but I was so happy it wasn't raining. I'll take the cold over the rain...at least California cold. I didn't use my MP3 at all...I kind of enjoyed the quietness and watching all the runners. I also had my little notes that everyone had written me, and I figured it would be hard to pray for each person if I was listening to music at the same time.

Chris and Caleb and Joshy met me at miles 6 and 8, which was nice. Around mile 4, I came upon a dad (I think) with his son that didn't look more than 8 years old. The dad kept pushing him saying, "hurry up! We've got to keep under a 9-minute mile! Keep it moving!" I felt really bad for the poor boy. His little legs were jamming, though! The dad at one point told the boy he was going to stop for a minute, and that the boy needed to keep going at the same pace. The dad then stepped off onto the side of the path, and proceeded to take a whiz right there! Yuck. I guess that's the convenience of being a male. I lost them around mile 11 when they took off and I was left in their dust. =)

Once I hit mile 10, I seriously thought I might keel over. My knees were burning and mentally I was struggling. I read through the last 4 notes because I wasn't sure if I would be able to focus at the beginning of each of the last few miles. I just prayed off and on for the rest of the time, not necessarily for the whole mile. I wanted someone to chat with so bad. There was an older guy, who said he was 50 (although he did look quite a bit older) who kept trying to strike up conversations with me, but he kind of annoyed me. He wasn't my dear Amber. I wanted her there!

I don't think I have ever been so happy as I was yesterday to see the numbers 11, 12 and 13. When I saw the 13-mile marker, I actually yelled, "YES!" outloud. I was sooo happy to be nearing the end.

When I came down the road to the finish, I saw Chris and the boys and my aunt and uncle and cousins waiting, and it was awesome! I could barely walk for a few minutes, but after stretching I felt a bit better. Yesterday my knees were pretty tight, but today, I'm just completely sore in my legs. It's wonderful!!! No joint pain, just muscle pain. I can't believe it. I am so happy my body held up, and that I haven't done any permanent damage. =)

I am so happy I did this. I remember back in August when I started training, and I could barely run 3 miles, and I thought that 13.1 miles seemed like an impossible feat. I just can't believe I made it! So now I have the 1/2 marathon on May 2nd to look forward to with Amber, and then after that, I think it's 10k's for me. I'm gonna try to improve my time on those. Maybe one day when the kids are older I'll want to go further with my running, but for now, this is good. =)

Here are some pics...after the professional ones are posted, I'll post them here.

Here's mom and I before the race started.


...And Dick and I...





Here I am at mile 6...still feeling good!


Mile 8...see that guy with no shirt on behind me? That's the 50-year-old that annoyed me. =)


Ok, is that guy behind me eating his lunch?




About to cross the finish line...SO happy!


All done!!


2 comments:

Robin said...

You did so great. All that hard work paid off. What's next, a full?? You are making me look forward even more to my 1/2 :)

Shelley said...

Great job! Feels good huh, to have accomplished that. I'm with you on sticking to the 10k's when you have kids, although I like throwing in an occasional half. I'm doing the Shamrock'N in March down by Raley Field - I'm hoping to keep my time under 2:15 - your time was awesome, especially for your first time. You're a natural runner!