This race was a tough one. As soon as I crossed the start line, people were flying by me and I thought, "Oh wow, I'm with the big kids now." Very different atmosphere from the Hot Chocolate 5k; these people were serious runners. I reminded myself that this was Erin's race and forced myself to go slow.
Just a few minutes into the race, two things happened that I'm always scared of:
1. My Runkeeper app got messed up and claimed I was running 8 minute miles.
2. I realized this was not a good running day.
The Runkeeper thing wasn't that big of a deal, because the time was still accurate, so I knew how long I'd been running and how much longer I had to go. But I was freaking out about the second one. Sometimes, I go out and run and after a few miles, I feel like I can just go forever. This wasn't the case today. I was struggling.
But that's when determination and stubborness kick in, and I thought, "I am NOT going to have to tell people I walked." Shame is a good motivator for me, as I discovered on my trip this summer. ("Do you seriously want to tell people that you spent a lazy day reading when you are at f-ing Yosemite National Park? Get off your ass and hike 10 miles!!") I knew that if I had to walk at all, I would consider this race a fail. So I gave myself a lot of pep talks, tried to think about other things, and kept going.
I almost passed out around Mile 5, but I finished strong and even ran faster through the finish line. After I finished, a man came up to me and said, "Excuse me, but I just have to thank you. You really helped me get through that race. You paced me, and you kept me motivated to keep running and not walk at all."
I was like, "Oh my gosh, you just made my day! Can I hug you right now even though I'm disgusting?" It was really sweet of him to tell me that! I hadn't even noticed him during the race; I was so focused on doing my own thing.
Nina and her friend Robin finished about 10 minutes later. (They did 10 miles instead of the 10k.) Nina was glad to see me; she knew right away that meant I'd run faster than I'd planned. And I did! My pace on this run was 13:05! I know that's not good compared to what most people run, but I was happy with it.
I was also happy that Nina did the 10 miles and didn't run with me. As all of our friends know, Nina and I sometimes make each other absolutely crazy. I mean it when I say I love her like a sister; we'd do anything in the world for each other, and after all we've been through, we'll be friends for life. But we seriously get on each other's nerves sometimes. After she started her second lecture of the morning (before the race even started!) on how I need real running shoes, I snapped. I told her I couldn't afford them and could she please stop bringing it up? And then she wanted to argue with me about my finances and how I really COULD afford them. It's true, I could. But that would mean taking money out of my Freeze Fest savings, and canyoneering will always be the priority. Anyway, we definitely got pissy with each other, so it was good we didn't run together. She would've started every sentence with "You should" and I would eventually say, "YOU should stop talking or I'm going to push you into the lake!"
But I really do love Nina. She's just trying to be helpful. And it was so nice of her to do this with me today.
Anyway, we had a lovely brunch at LuxBar, and then I came home and contemplated the 15k I want to do next weekend...
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