Lapham Peak Colorama (5K) - October 5, 2013
i got up this morning feeling really great. my ankle was sore and stiff but it has been every morning since i hurt it so i didn't really give it too much thought. i did a few stretches to loosen it up and started to prepare for the race. i have to say that i think the reason i'm not nervous about races is because i generally plan for beating my last time at whatever distance the current race is and focus on that but not on the "racing" part. in relation to other people. i am really competitive and of course, who doesn't want to win... but really i just want to be faster than my last time. so i felt pretty good.
once everyone was fed and ready we drove over to lapham peak. man i love that place! the fog was so thick today that the road was only visible for a couple of yards in front of the car. lapham was no different. it was super thick, overcast, yet the temperature was pretty even... maybe high 50's or low 60's. seemingly perfect! it's supposed to rain today and in fact is thundering as i type this so a storm is certainly on the way!
the race started at 10am and we arrived and parked by 9:30am. i got my bib & timing chip with no fan fair and who did i see? an old derby teammate! marisa! that was cool because it's been maybe just over a year since i saw her last. we said our hellos and then it was time for the bathroom. thankfully there was plenty of time because the only bathrooms available were the regular ones (2 stalls for women) and then they provided 2 port-o-pottys as well. finished that up and saw my friend jeff! (this isn't jeff in the pictures below)
max and i BEFORE the race.
got hugs and photos with jeff and then it was almost time to begin. there was some talking on the mic and then the 1-2-HORN! moving we were!
from the very first step i knew i was in trouble. it was painful but not so bad... YET.
this race would have been a piece of cake for me if it weren't for my injury and i'm pretty disappointed in my performance. as soon as i hit the first hill i realized i'd be lucky if i finished. my ankle was throbbing already! i made it up the hill and figured i could make up my time on the flat between that and the next one... and i was for a bit. i managed to fly for awhile but then came the next set of hills... they aren't bad but today they were excruciating! i have been running most of this route 3-4 times a week for weeks... i simply can't believe how painful my ankle was. i began to walk again. jeff and i were just inches from each other for about the first 1/2 of the race but then when i needed to walk he went on ahead. i'm really proud of his performance! he did a great job.
i ended up walking up a lot of the hills... it was sort of embarrassing.
by the time i made it to the 3rd mile and was almost home free i was walking quite a bit and crying. i decided to just put it into gear and finish as strong as i could. i'm pretty sure i was limping something fierce at that point and there were a lot of grandparents and children passing me at this point... i thought i had done awful for sure. i was hoping to finish this run in 21:00 or around there... no dice.
i'm pretty sure there was something wrong with my garmin today too because it tracked the race at 2.87 miles and this was definitely a 5K.
when i came into the finish i was just so happy to see the big "FINISH" that i no longer cared that i was in so much pain. as soon as i crossed the finish line the wonderful volunteers are there to take the timing chip. i couldn't even stand on my foot it was so painful so the woman there took my timing chip off for me and someone else came to help me out of the way of the other runners. i gimped my way over to the table with beverages and got a water. another woman came and helped me over to my friend jeff who was running over to me. then my husband and son showed up and everyone was clamoring to help me to a chair. i really love the running community! someone else found me an ice pack and as i sat there mentally kicking myself in the ass my son brought me some treats and a few other runners asked if i was ok.
later... i found out that i came in 3rd in my age group in spite of my awful performance. i'm not sure if that says something about the other runners being slow or if it says that i'm a complete and utter bad ass! i'm going to go with the latter because it makes me feel better to think we were all fast and i just did an awesome job on a bum ankle. lol!
my time this time compared to last year was slower... 26:49 to 25:35. not much slower but disappointing none the less. i will run this again next year because its a really fun race and mostly because i want to smash both of my previous times.
being injured is one of the most difficult things for me. i have a hard time sitting still and i just don't want to lose all the work i've done this summer. i want to continue to improve and get faster and more efficient. i mean... how am i going to run a marathon and/or a 50K next year if i'm broken?
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