For the last 11 weeks, I've been training to do something I never thought I would do. I "tried" running several times throughout my life, but it never really took. And I remember my family teasing me when I was very little about the way I ran. I used to joke and say that I wanted a runner's body, I just didn't want to run.
Back in February or March my friend Naomi sent me an invite to Building Steam and I thought, "If I am going to meet the goal of running a road race this year, I have to do this. If I don't, it's just not going to happen." I was really not sure I could do it. But I was really going to give it my all!
So, every Wednesday for 11 weeks (minus one for bad weather) I met up with hundreds of people to train. Training usually consisted of running a specific distance alternating running for 3 minutes and walking for 1. We started out covering a mile and after a few weeks running 2 or 2 1/2. In the last couple of weeks, we began running a full 4 miles including the course a couple of times.
I met a great group of people who have now become awesome and supportive friends.
I said from the very beginning that this was going to be an emotional event for me. I'm a pretty emotional person anyway, extremely touched by big events or the feelings (good or bad) of others. I really couldn't believe that I had accomplished this.
I got up yesterday morning and went downtown by myself; my family would be meeting me downtown after the race. I got ready, grabbed a bagel, and left to head towards the Riverplex. It was in the car that I started to feel nervous and a little sick to my stomach. I did not finish the bagel. I was fighting back tears.
Then I saw a friend in the locker room at the Riverplex and I gave in to the tears. From then on, it was very hard for me to hold back. I think I said to one person, "Don't be overly nice to me cause I'm really trying hard not to bawl" ;o)
I was waiting in the back of the Gateway Building for my pace group to gather. When we walked out to get in line and I saw ALL THOSE PEOPLE ahead of us, I LOST IT AGAIN!
And I pretty much cried (trying to hold it back, but it was too much to keep all of it in) from then till I was half a mile in.
I would gain composure and be in a good concentrated run and then we would pass complete strangers that would throw their hands up in the air and scream at the top of their lungs for us. And I would start crying again!
I did do my best run ever and I was completely shocked. I told my friend Linda that my habit of procrastination probably kicked in a little bit during the training. I think the furthest I ran during training without walking was .8 miles, maybe a little over a mile. I probably walked more than I actually needed to. I did push myself during training, but probably held a little back, knowing it wasn't my last chance to do my best run ever.
But yesterday was my last chance when looking at just my training for this one event. It was the first time I was going to have to obtain an official personal best.
And so I ran and ran and ran (really jogged and jogged and jogged - slow and steady). And I didn't hurt and I didn't run out of breathe. I basically ran for 3 miles straight before I REALLY walked. In the first mile or mile and a half I tried to walk once or twice, but I wanted to walk faster than my knees would allow. I guess they were telling me that if you are going to go that fast, it feels more natural for us to go ahead and jog. So I did. And before I new it, I had gone 3 miles.
I really think that I could have gone the whole thing running, but they stress to you during Building Steam that the stretch that you really don't want to walk is the last corner that takes you onto Hamilton and then down to Water Street for the finish line. Not that you CAN'T walk there, but that is basically the finish and where the most people are lined up and cheering you on the loudest. So, I did NOT want to find myself needing to walk there, so in the last mile I did walk for about a minute or two.
Then I was able to do that last stretch at a faster pace, one that I would feel even more accomplished if I worked up to doing the whole thing in.
My gun time (the time from when the gun goes off for the very fastest runners to the time I crossed the finish line) was 54:06. In order to determine my "chip" or "net" time (starting when I myself crossed the starting line to the time I crossed the finish line) they said I should subtract 3 to 5 minutes from my gun time. I would be surprised if it took me 3 minutes to get to the starting line after the gun went off, so I'm think 2 to 3 minutes. Since my goal was to finish in 52 minutes or less (that would be a 13 minute mile pace and what I had been training for), even if I only subtract the 2 minutes I'm right on track.
I did lose it one more time as I crossed the finish line. I couldn't believe I had done it, had done it so well, and now it was over. But, then I stood around waiting for my family to find me and had a chance to calm down a bit.
It was absolutely an amazing feeling to do the Steamboat Classic and absolutely will be something I will continue to do, adding other races to the agenda in years to come. I am really finding that concentrating on fitness and goal setting is what I enjoy and it is what is making me a more productive person.
Deciding to take this path has definitely added so much value to my life and I am so thankful that I am in a position to be able to pursue it.
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