I kept my promise to my mom, and ran in my first 7K (4.4 miles) race. It was the Runnin’ of the Green in Denver.
I was going to run in this race with my friend, Alison, but sadly her mother-in-law passed away recently, and she hasn’t been able to train for it.
I arrived downtown about half an hour before the race started, and it was PACKED. I couldn’t even find the registration booths to pick up my bib and timing chip. I could barely make my way through the crowd. I finally found the line; a full city block and a half away. There was no way I was going to be starting the race at 10 AM. I figured I’d be lucky to get up to the booth by 11.
After my last timing fiasco, I was happy to hear the announcer tell the crowd several times the timing chips are not activated until you cross the starting line. A few minutes later they announced the entire race had been sold out, and if you hadn’t preregistered, there was no more space for runners. That cleared out some people and lines collapsed. I walked and made my way to the booth, and only had to wait for about five minutes. They were announcing it was time to start when I put my timing chip on my shoe.
It was so crowded though! The race was not started in waves, and really should have been. I waited about 10 minutes until they said it was time for the walkers to line up before I started. I hit the start on my watch, and off I went. The morning had been sunny, and I usually get hot when I run. I wore my capri length running tights and a jacket. I was so glad I had thought to bring my gloves and hat, even though I didn’t think I would need them. The day before, it was 60! I think at race time it was in the 30’s, and it was windy. I definitely needed them!
There were a lot of people walking right off the bat. There were lots of strollers, dogs, and just a lot of people. I didn’t start out on my normal pace, because I couldn’t. I had to watch out for people. As we ran out of downtown and across I-25, there were two big hills we were running down. I knew we would be running UP these at the end of the race. I thought back to the Oatmeal 5K when the hills killed me at the end. These hills were twice that size, but I have been doing the work, and I was actually somewhat excited to see how I would manage them at the end of the race.
As I ran down the hills, I broke away from the mob of people a bit, and I just felt free for a few moments. I got tears in my eyes- I was thinking about my mom. It just overwhelmed me in the moment. I was only about a mile into the race, and knew I had a lot of work to do, so got myself focused again and started thinking about my pacing and breathing.
I loved the course. There were some flat parts, and some smaller hills. It was challenging without being a killer course. I wish I could say I completely broke away and found that perfect pacing, but I didn’t. There was just too many people for me. Every time I started to speed up, someone would step in front of me, or a stroller would stop, and everyone would have to adjust. There was no room to run really like I wanted to.
As I got back to the section where the big hills were, I figured there was about a mile and a half left. I had way more energy than usual because I had not been running as fast as I normally do. I thought about running conservatively up the hills, or trying to go a bit faster. I opted for a little faster. I sped up, and was kind of shocked when I reached the top of the second one. I wasn’t out of breath, and wasn’t tired at all.
I slowed down a little, because there is nothing I hate more than running out of steam right at the end. I like to finish strong. I held myself back until the final half mile, and was ready to sprint, but found out I couldn’t. There were still too many people, and the streets were narrower now that we were back in downtown. I tried running around as many people as I could, but it didn’t feel like I was really running- more like maneuvering.
I finally saw the finish line and figured there was no point in sprinting. I would have run into people if I did. I thought of my mom again, and silently told her I was a few seconds away from finishing what I promised her I would do. I touched her bracelet she wore, that I have been wearing since she passed away. As I got to the finish line, it was bogged down by people, walking across, so I had to wait for them to walk across, so I could run across. Kind of crazy.
I looked down at my watch and it said three minutes! I knew that wasn’t right and obviously my watch got reset somehow. I was going to have to wait for the official results. I decided right then and there I was done with the watch, and not knowing my times, distances, and splits. (More on that in a future blog post)
I had to wait for someone to cut the timing chip off my shoe, and by the time that happened and I saw the official clock it said 53 minutes. I figured my time was probably about 45 minutes. It was getting really cold and windy. I found a few running friends from Daily Mile and chatted a bit with them. I drank some water and waited in the longest line ever for some soup, but it was good. It had started snowing, and I was freezing, so it was time to go.
The parking lot was nearly empty when I got to my car, and the snow was coming down. It seemed like another world, being so crammed into so many people while running, and not even an hour later, being in such a wide space alone.
I turned the heat on and sat in the car for a minute, trying to get warm. I touched my mom’s bracelet again. It occurred to me for the first time after a race, she wasn’t going to be calling me to see how I did. But as I watched the snow fall on Union Station, I felt like she already knew. Sometimes words aren’t necessary.
Results
Time: 41:12
Age Group Place: 21 out of 74
Division Place: 240 out of 918
Gender Place: 536 out of 2189
Overall Place: 2436 out of 3832