Buckley 5-miler

^^3 wide awake kids who are very confused why they are awake and in the car at 6:30am^^



^^ us after the run ^^



^^ us with the kids after the run -- boy oh boy, we sure did stink!!!! ^^




^^ Chris's legs & shoes after the run ^^



^^ my gross and muddy shoes after the race ^^








Saturday, July 23, 2011

The week before the race had been record-breaking hot -- we're talking heat index of 105+ for an entire week straight!!!! Makes running very hard. I didn't get in the training runs I wanted to for the month prior to the race -- hubby's job has him working too much, which leaves me no time for running (or, well, much else either) He has been working like a dog in this heat, so his body is just run down from being physically drained every.single.day.
We woke up at 5:45am, planning on leaving with 3 kids at 6:15 (Cameron was at a friends sleepover birthday party) Chris's parents were watching the little 3 and they live 5 minutes from the race.....all we had to do was get them up and dressed and throw them in the car to go. Somehow, we are late for EVERYTHING. We were slacking getting the kids in the van, then we forgot things, then we had to stop to get gas.......finally dropped the kids off at 7am and the race starts at 7:30, packet pick up ends at 7:15. This is one of my least favorite races organization wise...you park in one spot, packet pick up is a quarter mile aways from there, and the race starts a quarter mile from there -- so once you get your packet, you have to walk .25 mile (yes, I Garmin'ed it) back to the car, and from there, it a .56 mile walk to the start line. And, when you are running late, this just makes it chaotic!! After we got our packets, Chris went to use the porta-potty while I took stuff back to the van, then met him at the start line. We were there for a whole minute or so before the race began.....I hate feeling like I'm rushed into a race -- which sounds dumb because it *IS* a race.....
I put a ton of undue pressure on myself for this race because I ran an amazing (for me) race last year, and placed 2nd in my age group, so I had it in my head that I needed to place this year -- I have no idea why, I really just wanted to prove that I could hold my own with my peers in a race.
This race is comfortably predictable -- you start by the big barn (it's a county Homestead, and it's one of my fave places to run!!!) head 1.5 miles out on the road, turn around and head the 1.5 miles back in...once you get to the big barn, you head out into the field and do a 2 mile loop around the cornfield, and back up to the barn and voila -- you have an easy 5 mile road/trail run.
I was feeling fine on the road part, really regretting not having gotten more runs in -- but feeling good for the most part. I was running sub 10 minute miles, and while the heat was 'only' in the 90's the humidity was rising -- and quickly. As we neared the big barn, the man in front of me started running really weird, and after about 50 feet -- he passed out, falling head first to the pavement -- luckily, we were yelling distance to the on-site medics who rushed over to tend to him -- I stood there for a little while (about 45-60 seconds) while the truck came over to him, then went on my way. Once I turned onto the trail -- my legs were so happy to be running on grass again!!!! They had mulched the trail, but it was just easier to run on the squashed down grass beside it -- especially in my toe shoes!!! I checked my Garmin, and my time had dipped to the 10:15 range -- I was hoping that was only because I was trying to figure out if mulch or grass was better/faster......After a short while, the trail goes through the woods -- which were a muddy, sloshy, sloppy mess after last nights rain. I had to walk through several mud pits, just to keep my footing and I lost quite a bit of time navigating through all the ick in there!!! We finally got to the clearing which takes you out and back around the cornfield -- it's a nice straight shot, but it's grass ....and muddy wet grass at that. Plus, the humidity has really peaked, and I am a sweaty mess!!! I had zipped past the aid stations and was really regretting it now that it had become hot & muggy! Thus, I slowed down even more :-( I realized somewhere around the 4 mile mark that I wasn't going to place this year, and that I really needed to focus on losing this weight. I have at least 10 pounds that need to go away (though, truthfully, I don't care what the number on the scale says -- I just NEED to fit into my clothes AND have my confidence back while running) The weight has been a big problem for me, and it's become a viscous cycle of not running because it is markedly harder at a heavier weight, and the lack of running deters me from losing the weight -- and on and on......
ANYHOW........
At the 4 mile mark, I'm looking at 41:something on my Garmin -- I ran the whole thing in a 48:something last year. So, I decide to just kick it and get this race over with.....after about .25 miles of that -- I realize that I hadn't eaten, nor had I hydrated well -- and -- did I mention -- it's hot and MUGGY!!!!! UGH, so thick and sticky!!! I decide to run an easy 10 minute pace that I can maintain just to finish this beast. I know I'm close to the finish because I can hear the people cheering and that's when I make my 1.5-2 minute mistake. I came out of the field, into the woods and turned left at the clearing. After about 50-55 seconds, I realize I can no longer hear the finish line, and I see WALKERS coming at me!!!!!! I went the wrong way when I came to the clearing!!!! The walkers are headed towards the finish line, and I was headed towards them --AWAY from the finish line!!!!! I quickly turned around and headed back the way I had come, then headed the correct way out of the woods towards the finish line.
Chris was (of course) already there, and humored by the fact that I got lost on a race (this is the 3rd time) and that the dude in front of me passed out (this is the 2nd time a runner has passed in front of me DURING a race) I glance over and see an ambulance in the driveway, and I can only assume dude was fine after some fluids -- I mean, ambulances don't hang out at Homesteads if the sick person is seriously ill....do they?!?!?!
We went to check the results, and after a long wait to get the updated results -- my name and/or bib # were completely missing. There was a chance I had placed 3rd in my age group, but we couldn't find my results.... we finally found someone in charge of timing and she was no help at all, so I used my Garmin time and tried to plug in where I 'should be' on the results, and realized I had missed placing by around a minute. Bummed, we headed to pick up the kids. As we were leaving I heard the RoadRacers coach telling them that running 5 miles in this humidity is like running 7 miles on a "normal" day.....
Once we got to his parents house, we realized just how hot and humid it was and we realized just how stinky and sweaty we were -- funny the things you don't notice when you are hanging out with a bunch of sweaty, stinky runners.
Love this run, we'll continue to do it each year -- just hoping I can train better for it next year -- I'd like to place in the 30-34 female at least one more time before I move up to the 35-39 (EEEEKKKKKSSS -- can I really be close to that age group already?!?!?!?!?!)

Results: (last year's in parenthesis for comparison)

Chris:
48:06 (47:19)
9:37 mile (9:28 mile)
6 out of 6 male 35-39 ( 5 out of 6 male 30-34)
95 out of 183 runners (78 out of 172 runners)

Julie:
54:17 (48:33)
10:51 mile (9:43 mile)
6 out of 15 30-34 female (2 out of 6 30-34 female)
134 out of 183 runners (86 out of 172 runners)