Alison and I were certain the race was a 9K, which is 5.5 miles. The last few weeks I’d been preparing on how to run this distance in a race. I figured out how fast I needed to run each mile, and practiced to try to get the time I was hoping for- 50 minutes. A few days ago, I ran 5.6 miles in 49 minutes, so I decided I’d try to hit 45 minutes for the race. Ryan and Cole have been running short distances with me to train for their race.
So on Mother’s Day, after making a big breakfast for the boys and I, and opening the cards they made for me, we headed out to the race site at the Boulder Reservoir. We met up with Alison, her husband, Iggy, and their little boy, Winston. The kids race was about to start so Cole and Winston lined up for the first wave:
Then they were off!
Ryan ran in the last wave, and he was ready to run!
Alison and I got ready for our race, while the three boys and Iggy went off to play. They announced then the race was a 9.9K, or 6.1 miles. Alison and I were surprised we both had missed that. It wasn’t that much in terms of distance, but for preparation it was huge. I have ran a lot farther than 6.1 miles before, but never in a race or in a training run. I didn’t know when I would peak, when I would start getting tired, or any of that. There wasn’t a lot I could do, except run and see what happened.
Alison met up with one of her friends, Kelli, and after chatting for a bit, we were ready to line up. The fastest starting time they had was 7 minutes, and even though I wasn’t going to try to run every mile at that pace, I decided to line up there. They announced there were almost 2,000 runners, so it was crowded, but the race organizers had everything running very smoothly. A few moments later, we were off!
The first mile seemed to fly by. I ran the first mile in 7:34, but figured I had better slow down a bit- there was still 5 miles to go. The course had turned into dirt, gravel, and grooved road. Some of the spots were really loose, and I had a few issues with really getting my feet planted. There were a few hills too that weren’t super easy for me. I’ve ran on a lot steeper and tougher hills, but during the race, the hills were challenging me.
A handful of runners passed me. I was trying to run a pace of 8:30 for the next few miles to make sure I would have enough left at the end. The scenery was really pretty, and there was plenty of room to run, but I wasn’t getting into the groove I like. I was struggling on the gravel at points, and was too overly focused on the pacing.
At the beginning of mile 3, I was able to see the front of the pack, and the bikes leading the runners. I was surprised for a minute when I realized there were not that many people in front of me. I figured there were about 100 runners ahead of me. It made sense since I started at the front, and not that many people had passed me. That definitely gave me a boost. The race was half over, and it looked liked I was in the top 10%.
At mile 4, I had crossed the reservoir, and I glanced across it. I saw a sea of runners- the path was packed. It dawned on me even though I wasn’t having my best race, or doing my best running, I was ahead of all of those runners- almost 2000 of them by a least a mile. I thought back to my first race last October, and never thought 7 months later, I’d be running so strongly in a hard race with good runners. It really hit me then how far I’ve come as a runner.
When I hit 5.5 miles, the distance I thought I was going to be running, I was right at 45 minutes. It made me feel good that I would have hit this goal even though it wasn’t the goal anymore. I started to run faster, and the course was not that crowded. There wasn’t anyone I felt like I could try to pass, so I concentrated on running faster and faster towards the end, and finishing strong. It helped the last stretch was downhill.
When I approached the finish line, I saw the official clock was at 50:58. I ran as fast as I could, hoping to finish under 51 minutes, but I didn’t quite make it. I saw the clock turn to 51 minutes and then I hit stop on my Garmin, so I wasn’t exactly sure what the official time would be, but knew it would be 51-something. I grabbed some water, and a few minutes later, I saw Alison running to the finish line. We were both very happy we had run well and finished strong.
We found the kids and Iggy, and visited some of the booths. Then we let the kids play on the beach, get their feet (and pants) wet, make sandcastles, and we had a picnic.
