Dad decides to jog back to our car and put up our t-shirts since the race was delayed. What do you know... catastrophe two hits! Dad's left achilles pretty much blew out on his way in from the car. My first response is for him not to run - it would be stupid for him to hurt himself even more. Dad's first response is to get pissed at the situation because he wants to run with me.
Dad toughs it up and starts the race. We are weaving in and out of the 650 plus people until we get to a comfortable pace. We were running about 8:30/mile. We get about a mile in a half into the race until Dad starts to display some pain. He hands me his watch (I conveniently forgot mine... keyword of my summer is forgetfulness) in case he has to stop. He talks himself into it and then just about 3 miles into the race his achilles is kaput.
He roots me on as I run ahead keeping up with our set pace. So by this time we've been running for about 27 minutes, which should have been my half way point. There is no turn around in site. I keep running the path and following the people. At about 35 minutes race time, I'm realizing that something is wrong since I haven't turned around yet and I should be way past the half way point. This is when the realization of catastrophe three sets in. Runners who had already turned around at some "unknown" location are shouting "There is no 10k turnaround!!" I tread on, hoping that they are wrong. Minutes later, more runners saying "No 10k turnaround!" This time, I believe them but I just kept running in the same direction. Soon after, I reach the half marathon turnaround point and I realize that I am in this race for the long run.
I psyched up myself to be able to run this next six or so miles. I devised a plan. I would run until my clock read 55 minutes so that I knew I at least successfully ran all of my 10k race. I was really on about a 53 minute 10k pace but I threw in time for good measure. I then decided that I would run for 10 minutes then walk for 1 minute until I finished this race. I actually felt really strong but I didn't want to exhaust myself since this was going to be the longest distance that I've run. I hit my personal record this past Thursday at 7 miles...
So I'm running and running then threw in a couple of walk sessions. I started cracking up with a fellow runner because the first time that I slowed down to a walk a woman ran past me said, "are you alright?" I stated back that "I am supposed to be in the 10k" and then we both laughed and she said "good luck!"
I encroached upon the original starting point for I could hear the finishing line announcer. About 1/4 mile away from the finish line, they actually separated the 10k runners from the half marathoners. The half marathoners went to the right and 10k runners straight on. Although I had already psyched myself up to finish the half marathon... I decided it would be in my best interest to take the 10k short cut back to the finish line since I wanted to be able to enjoy the rest of my anniversary with my husband and because I wanted to run again someday soon! ha!
After I split from the half marathoners, I reach the park clearing and see dad walking towards the trail. This whole time I was running, I was worried about dad. Not so much about his injury (he's tough) but more about what he was thinking about me disappearing for so long! I knew he would try and get me on my turnaround... but that never happened! So I shout to him "no 10k turn around!" and he says "I know!"
I finally cross the finish line at 1:18:00.6. 1 hour and 18 minutes later, I am back at the finish line. With the pace that I had been running dad and I figured that I ran about 9 miles... I later went home and mapped my run on mapmyrun.com and discovered that I ran 8.75 miles. Just nuts!
Dad informed me that people just had started turning around on the trail and that one of the EMS guys started yelling at people to turn around if they were running the 10k because they had gone to far... well guess what, I was way past that point by then. Go figure!
We quickly hopped in the car and headed home. Mom and Jordan met us for breakfast at Snooty Pig, my favorite breakfast place ever since they have THE most incredible muffins ever! Cheered us up a bit ;)
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| The runners of the family. Thunder didn't run in this race but we couldn't leave him out! |
In the end, it may not be a big deal that I ran more than I was supposed to since I set a personal distance record but it really bummed be out cause I was running for that time! I told Jordan that it would be like him playing in a golf tournament and not keeping score. Just doesn't make sense!
So here is to the running effort that dad and I put in! Here is to the next 10k race that I run, hopefully it'll be legit! Here is to the memory that will last forever! I'm sitting here today glad that I only ran the mileage that I did because I am quite sore.
*I plan to add more pictures as they become available through the photographer website
Just thought I'd post a copy of my 10k training schedule from Active.
Week | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
1 | Rest | 3 m run | CT | 2.5 m run (race pace) | Rest | 3 m run | 30 min EZ |
2 | Rest | 3 m run | CT | 3 m run (race pace) | Rest | 3.5 m run | 35-40 min EZ |
3 | Rest | 3.5 mi run | CT | 3.5 m run (race pace) | Rest | 4 m run | 35-40 min EZ |
4 | Rest | 4 m run | CT | 3.5 m run (race pace) | Rest | 4.5 m run | 40-45 min EZ |
5 | Rest | 3 m run | CT | 4 m run (race pace) | Rest | 5 m run | 40-45 min EZ |
6 | Rest | 3.5 m run | CT | 3.5 m run (race pace) | Rest | 6 m run | 40-45 min EZ |
7 | Rest | 4 m run | CT | 4 m run (race pace) | Rest | 7 m run | 40-45 min EZ |
8 | Rest | 3 m run | CT or Rest | 3 m run | Rest | Rest | 10K Race! |
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