Irish for a day 10 mile race report

Yes.

Seriously.

I did a race.

And i didnt fall.

Last week this is what i looked like after my sunday run:

Which led to a week of this:

Not necessarily in the snow as it rained all week, but lots of ice. and lots of arnica on my bruised and angry knee's. Just bruises, but still not fun to bruise your knee caps OR your sub patellar tendon area. Since i had already had my share of PTSD from this:

And now add in some ice disquised as mud about 20 minutes into a 1:45 run and

I decided my best option to make it to the start line was to dress like this: ALL WEEK.

Bubble wrap would not cut it. I had to get out the michelin man outfit.

Luckily with proper body armour, ice, and some rest and not alot of running i tested the bruised appendages ( i took off the suit) on Wednesday and felt that it was gonna be ok for saturday. I tested it again friday and I knew i was good to go.

This week has been rough. Per my last post, this week started out sunday night at 10 pm as a nightmare of a week, and with no sun, and sore knees i was pretty down in the dumps. The last thing i wanted to do was to take anything away from what really mattered this week and that was my family and Uncle Angus's legacy. At the same time I was really starting to think that I would REALLY have to wear this suit to run in the desert in Tucson since i didnt want to fall into a cactus. So regardless of the pace i ran today I wanted to toe the line, be smart and just get out there and run a race. ( Last race i signed up for i couldnt do bc of the dreaded spiral stair fall #2)

Anyways, did you really want a race report? I mean this is far more interesting isnt it? What goes thru my head leading up to toeing the line?

Friday we had a wonderful day of laughter, tears, memories, hugs, tears, more smiles, more tears and by 4:30 pm I was ready for bed. I dont know if any of you are like this but once i get a good cry on, I am like a baby. Tuck me in. Night night. But off to dinner we went and more fun was had by all.

So when 6:30 dawned, luckily i was thankful for a 9am start. Got the breakfast down, working on eating MORE before i race, and had ample time for all that goes down before a race.

Got to the start and here is your pictorial of that:

Best word to describe this is RAW....we were running around 2 lakes, and there is a nice NORTHERN breeze those Canadians sent us. Brr....

Hmm, I have to get out of this car to warm up sometime....but first let me do the "gelling"

Funny is that of all the places to park I parked right next to my buddy Steve.

So we chatted it up a bit, i wished him happy birthday, told him i have a cupcake raincheck for him since the only cupcake i could get yesterday was from the funeral and i thought that was bad karma, and we started to get warmed up. I didnt see him at the start but he cheered me into the finish where he said "you looked rough" Yup. I. Felt. Rough.

So here is my race report:

I ran without any watch or anything. We had a clock at mile 1 and mile 5. Coach said to not start out too fast, and given my week prior with emotional and physical stress I was seriously just happy to be there. It was FREEEEEEZING before we started and FREEEEEEEEZING after we finished, but during the run i was just great. If not a bit hot when we were running with the wind.

Mile 1 7:11 Felt easy

Mile 2-5?? I know i ran a 7:00 in there and i started to see something in the near distance. As we crested one of many sneaky little hills It became clear to me what was now in my sights.

THE PAIN LOCKER.....

I wasnt in it yet, but that door had just opened. Upper right hand ? That's mine!

Around mile 5 the curiosity was killing me. I was sorrounded by guys, all of whom looked to be about 25-30 yo. They all had big spaceships on their wrists. The GARMIN patrol. Everywhere.

So as we got closer to mile 6 and I stepped my right foot into the LOCKER I said : "Ok Garmin boys, what pace are we doing here?"

Lead Garmin boy ( whom i was doing a nice job drafting off in the wind, or i should say I was nicely in his slipstream) said "7:06 now, 7:11 overall."

Me : "thanks."

and that was pretty much all she wrote.

When i had gotten "comfortable" in the locker I knew that mile 6-7 was gonna be hanging on to my Garmin boys, and as we crested another hill to come into the final loop of the same lake we looped to begin with we were met with the 5k runners. Ugh. My Michelin armour was ready, I dodged, i tucked, i scampered, and i made it thru the sea of 5k'ers finishing their 1 loop. Now the work began. 3 more miles.

Lead Garmin boy came by and said " Bad. Time. For. A. Side. Stitch" But he seemed determined to catch Garmin boy #2 and off he went. Told me in btwn breathes that we were at 7:15 pace.

And around mile 8, after yet another sneaky hill, I pretty much slammed that Locker door shut and sat in there in the dark wishing for it to be over. No knee pain, my left glute medius started to cramp and i tell ya that was the longest last mile I have run since...( my last race?Hahaha)

We had to re-join the 10 milers headed into their last lap and so again the agility drills took place going downhill into the finish chute. Garmin boy bested me by about 30 seconds, but that is ok. I was pleased finishing under 1:12 and pleased that those last 2 miles i just told myself to "sit in the locker and gut it out." I kept hoping that my TRX was going to give me some great finishing spurt, but maybe it did...i sure think i helped me get over those hills.

Steve met me at the finish, I grabbed some snacks, gave my free beer coupon to a lucky gal, and we jogged back to our cars and talked about how the race had gone. Steve had his Recoverite in the car, me, my chocolate milk and we toasted each other, snapped a picture and headed off.

Happy Birthday to Steve! And while we trash talk each other alot about pool workouts, Steve can run like the wind! So nice job Steve, and as i said, perhaps we need to settle this on the bike sometime:)!

The weather is still grey, damp and cold. Forecast calls for 59 sunday, but i really dont believe it. Long ride outside tommorrow, fenders will be key, and if the bonechilling weather continues I may be doing the 50/50. 2 hours out 2 hours in. Tennis on tv? Roger on tv at Indian Wells? That could very easily be my deciding factor.

Here's to y'all staying upright. I can lend you some bubble wrap if you need it.