Well I raced RAN this weekend!!!
I was really, really excited about registering for this race. It was the Police Remembrance run for 3 police officers that have been killed within the past year. Our local race director, Chris Lauber, put it on so it was also nice to be supporting him.
My race started at 7 am in downtown St Petersburg. I live in Tampa, so it takes a good 30 minutes to get there. I knew that I needed to wake up at 5am to have time to eat, get ready and get down there.
Well, Jaime J’s second Bachelorette Party was on Saturday night!! I honestly did not think we would be out too late, since we were eating dinner, having wine, and then hitting the streets. It just seemed that with dinner and all it would end earlier. Well…. We had SOO much fun!! I was the DD and took care of everyone. It was a blast. Needless to say I did not get into my apartment until after 2am!! So this was already putting me at less than 3 hours of sleep. I had thoughts of not going – but I wanted to so badly. Even if I wasn’t going to do well, I wanted to be around other runners- to get that excitement that I haven’t been able to enjoy in a few months.
All of a sudden at 4:30am I was woken up by a LOUD thunderstorm!!! It was intense –lightening, thunder, wind, the whole nine yards. I thought for sure the race would be cancelled, so I checked my news feed on Facebook since I am friends with Chris. Well – he wasn’t cancelling the race, the storm was going to blow over. I put my head back down thinking that 20 more minutes of sleep was MUCH needed! I was EXHAUSTED.
The alarm went off at 5am – this girl opened her eyes at 5:47!! Race time was in one hour and 13 minutes!! For a couple of seconds I said screw it, Im not running. But then next thing I was doing was throwing my running clothes on, making my protein shake, and running to my car!! I got in my car a little after 6 and FLEW to St Pete. I don’t know how I did it, but I made it! I found a parking spot – RAN to pick up my race packet – and RAN back to my car to drop my stuff off – and RAN to the starting line – and RAN the 10k!
Right away I knew that I was not going to be getting a time that I wanted. I had thoughts of just stopping but knew that was dumb. Just run it, I needed to run anyways. My legs felt tired, my body was weak, my head was pounding, and I was so thirsty!! I just wanted to go back to sleep!!
I don’t have my times for you, but the first mile was about 7:17 and then they jumped up to 7:40-7:59’s. I didn’t even care. The last mile was about a 7:17 as well and the .2 was at a 6:38 pace. When I realized I only had about ½ mile left I started to pick it up. I saw 3 girls in front of me and I just wanted to pass all 3 of them and then I would be happy. Mission Accomplished J
I ended at a 7:40 pace.
4th in Age Group
40th Overall
Not a PR.
A fun time for a Great Cause
J
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