First half of the race

Go figure, when I get in line for the bathroom for the final time before the race begins, the bagpiper starts his tune and begins leading runners down the road to the starting line. The dozen people in front of me and I groaned collectively. We decided to wait it out, as we had 25 minutes left before the official start time. The line dragged as minutes flew by. With just 10 minutes left until start I finally got my turn. I rushed out and down the road at a good jog, with several others who'd taken the time for that last chance to go. As I was running, I was trying to reach Noreen, who'd already headed to the starting line. We finally connected and had just moments until the race began. We were about 100 people back from the line and when the gun went off, we were ready.

We headed out at a slow pace, but heading down the steep grade and the adrenaline of the race with hundreds of runners around us kept us moving at a good clip. I had a slight wardrobe malfunction and had to readjust the skirt tie before I could keep going. Once I got into the groove, I didn't want to stop. First mile flew by in 9:47. I realized I was going fast for me, especially for the first of thirteen miles, but I also knew that the only chance I had of finishing in less than 3 hours was if I hit those first 4 downhill miles as hard as I could. I did slow my pace a tiny bit to get back on track for me.

We ran into Kashi-guy - well, technically he ran into Noreen - but we said a quick hi and grabbed a couple of photos and kept going. I had wanted to take a Facebook live video at each mile, but the internet wasn't cooperating, and I didn't want to stop. I took a really brief walk break at mile two, which I'd reached in 11:56, and then kept going. By this point, Noreen had gone on ahead. I knew that she was too speedy to hang back with my turtle self for the race, but I was thankful to have had her as long as she'd stayed.

I have never run a 5K with no walk breaks. We turned off the road onto the bike path and the steepness gave way to gentle rolls. Mile 3 - 12:00. Right on target for me. I began slowing down. Way down. But - 33:42 - I had just raced my fastest 5K ever!! I was so excited. This was the first time I finished a 5K with just 2 super-short breaks. I was loving how this was feeling.  But, between miles 3 and 4 I also noticed I was having some pain in my back. I thought it was just from the impact of running down such a steep grade and decided to walk a minute, but then keep going. While I walked, I tried again to upload a video. It just kept shutting off on me. I gave up on it and thought I'd do one from the house when I got there. Back to running I went. I was so close to our cabin. By now I was on familiar ground, as I'd just run through here Friday morning. I was loving the environment - such incredibly nice runners, super supporters on the sidelines encouraging everyone - not just their loved ones, sweet kids and teens at aid stations calling us by our names, and just absolutely gorgeous surroundings. There were several people who spoke to me as they passed or as I passed them. I don't remember ever feeling so comfortable or at home during a race. I didn't meet a single snarky runner out there. Not one!! I was hurting but I was happy. My back kept getting worse, but I knew I could make it to the cabin. I was determined not to walk anymore until the second half of the half. Yeah. That didn't happen. Mile 4, after walking a bit and slowing down to use my intervals, was 14:37. Mile 5 was 15:04 and mile 6 was 14:20. It was too painful running for too long. But I was not going to stop.

I finally reached the cabin and the 10K mark at 1:17.59. My second fastest 10K time ever! It didn't come without a cost though. I was barely able to walk, much less run. I was hoping by taking some times at the house, getting a snack, getting some hydration, taking a potty break, and stretching, I'd be able to keep going. I knew I was going to have to slow down my pace, or I'd never make it to the finish line. I made a quick phone call to check in with Shane and he immediately said to slow down, that I was pushing too hard and that I needed to walk and not make my back worse. I told him I wanted to at least try running to Jason's house - another mile and a half into the course. I assured him I'd take it slower and easier, but I had to keep going. At this point, he was fairly certain that I'd be better off stopping, but he knew better than to try to convince me of this.

I just finished up a longer-than-planned break at the cabin (a whole 15 minutes! - that's going to hurt my finish time) and I'm heading back out. My watch went into pause at the cabin, so my time on my watch will show my actual running time, but the official time is going to be a lot longer than that. I'm positive at this point it won't be under 3 hours, and I'm going to be surprised if it's less than 3 1/2 hours the way I'm feeling right now.

More at the finish!