106 days until Day 1 of the Goofy Challenge!
Not that I'm counting or anything.
Race season is well underway, and I had my second race in as many weekends this month on Sunday. This one I wrote about a year ago but I'll brief you on the details:
It was the Let's Move Apopka 10K- we ran it in 2014 to get a POT for PHM Weekend earlier this year.
I was the first female finisher with a rather underwhelming 54ish minute finish time but hey, it was the first race I'd ever actually placed, won, whatever, so I was thrilled.
All the winners got little trophies, the age group winners were good but the overall winner trophies were broken so the Polish guy that came in first and I both had to go home empty handed, with the promise of it being fixed and mailed to us.
Around December, I got to thinking how I never heard anything back from the race director and I sent an email checking up on it.
I never got a response.
I occasionally bitched about not getting my little award, but only with a smile because hey, I know I won! Secretly I was still a bit disappointed though. Over this past spring and summer, I actually got 3 more placement awards- 2nd and 3rd place overall female, and 2nd in my age group. But still, the missing first place award could not join the others.
Finally, toward the end of the summer after the race director posted a Facebook page update on the 2015 race, I queried about last year in a comment.
And then things really picked up!
I got messages, apologies, phone calls, and a free race entry to this year's 10K. They were very nice about it, and couldn't have been more apologetic. I was gracious, thanked them for getting back with me on the matter, and took them up on the free entry.
And then I started freaking out.
I HAD to win again! It would be the only way I could make up for not having recognition for my first place 2014 win!
I didn't sleep well in the 2 nights leading up to the race. My stomach was in knots and I was under so much pressure I could barely even focus on anything. I got to the 7th Day Adventist church in Apopka in time to pick up my packet and try to calm down. I posted about my significantly elevated stress level in the Team #rundisney page and everyone's words of encouragement and support really helped me and gave me a good distraction before the race kicked off.
The course was the same as the year before- around an elementary school and eventually down and back a bike trail. Back again was this awful pedestrian bridge with a steep zig zag path to go over a busy highway.
I'll spare the details because it's not super interesting- I started out at the gun in about 4th place overall for the women before eventually moving up to 2nd and then falling back into 4th. I never had a chance. The first place woman ended up finishing in like 48 minutes, and I've never run a sub-50 minute 10K before. I was watchful of the women I passed, and then even more so of the women who ended up passing me after about 4 miles. I'd already decided there was no way I was going to win so I focused on at least winning my age group. One woman who passed me was much older- closer to 50 than 30-34. The other girl who passed me later on looked almost my age but could have been younger. I crossed my fingers and hoped she was in her 20s and just kept moving along.
I held on to 4th place for the women but that didn't mean a thing. I finished in 53:01, grabbed my banana, and headed back to my car for some Powerade. I felt ok, not exausted, not excited, just... neutral. What I really wanted was to find the overall men's finisher, Fredison Costa. Fredison was the winner of the Walt Disney World Marathon this year and actually showed up to race this little 10K in Apopka! He finished the race with a 6 minute mile and get this- he took a wrong turn while he was in a far off lead and made an extra lap around another couple blocks before finding the rest of us. He cranked it into higher gear and STILL WON. He probably would have been 3 or 4 minutes faster if he hadn't done that but holy crap!
I found him, btw!
See what I'm holding there? I won first place in my age group! Yay!!! Vindication!
As I was fixing to leave, I stopped to say hello and thank you to the church pastor, Andrew Moreno. He'd called me in regards to last year's award and was super nice about it and for arranging my free entry this year. We chatted for a bit, I was all smiles with my age group win when he told me to wait one second, he would be right back...
WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!!! The 7th Day Adventist folks had gone and had a little plaque made for me (he had 2 boxes, one was the other for the Polish guy winner as well) to make up for last year's broken trophy debacle. I was shocked, grateful, and amazed. I told him I'd been also speaking to Cayce, she worked the race as well and had been instrumental in getting things set right. He introduced us, it turned out she'd been the one to take the photo above of Fredison and myself! We chatted for a bit but then I had to head out. I walked away feeling validated, happy, grateful for such a good group of people, and most of all- relieved! There was always a little part of my race history that felt incomplete and now everything is as it should be!
Sunday was the final race in the Remarkable River Run series- I missed out on signing up for the whole thing (didn't know about it in time to do the 5K back in the spring) so this was my second run. The first was the 10K back in June where I snagged up that 2nd place age group medal...and then went and got engaged at Epcot that afternoon.
This was my 3rd trip up to Port Orange- it was the same route and location as the 10K as well as the triathlon I did last month. I'd had a couple good training runs the past few weeks- either I'd adapted to the summer heat or it wasn't affecting me as much but my speed had been consistently improving! I wasn't back down to that 8:15 min/mi for 13.1 yet (like I was in February) but I didn't feel like the lost cause I used to feel like in July when I was slogging along barely able to hold a 10m/m. I decided I was going to try to place in this race! An age group award didn't seem that impossible again.
The 15K race started at 7am. I hung out near the front- there were a few hundred people in this one- not a bad group. The course headed south along the river past some large homes on the other side. The stately properties abruptly turned in to a trailer park, then quick-changed into a typical neighborhood setting after that. I liked this area- Miles 2 and 3 were pretty shaded. The route wound through a neighborhood before doubling back on itself and heading back north along the river with the trailer park and manor homes coming up again. I was feeling pretty good- for a few minutes at the start I was in the #1 female position. It didn't take long for a woman to pass me though, in a pack of who I found out later were a group of Ironman guys. Another woman passed me shortly after and I managed to keep pace right behind her, but she fell back after about 2 miles. I was in second now.
I skipped the walk intervals on my watch- I was feeling good and comfortable at about an 8:20 pace. There were plenty of water stops on this course, and the also had a lemon lime Spark drink that was actually pretty tasty. I took a swig here and there and decided to save my Gu pack for mile 6 or 7.
Just after the 4 mile mark, I got passed again! I knew this other woman was behind me for the past few miles and I tried to keep ahead but she cranked it up and pulled into 2nd place. If I could only stay in 3rd now...
I could sense there was another woman maybe 20 yards behind me, but I wasn't going to relax!
The 10K mark was back at the finish area- the first 6.2 miles were exactly the same as they were in June, however this time I had to pass the turn into the finish line and head over that goddamn bridge.
The very same bridge that stole my dignity on the triathlon.
The bridge where I was forced to walk my bicycle up the westbound side.
I could see it looming in the distance- it looked about a mile high and straight up.
Fuuuuuuudge. In other words.
6.5 miles, I hit the base. And I chugged up that bridge. It was soooo hard! I will be eternally grateful for the overcast skies that day- a light rain would sprinkle down every now and then and provide some relief. My ponytail by this time was extra curly!
I wasn't too far behind the woman in 2nd- not close enough to catch her but I could still see. As I pulled myself up the bridge, one foot in front of the other...I couldn't do it anymore. I had to stop and walk. Just for 20 seconds.
The woman behind me passed me. Dammit.
I made it to the top of the bridge, pretty sure I was getting altitude sickness, and let gravity take over on the way down the other side. 7 minute mile, anybody? Hell, yeah! I pulled ahead back into 3rd and sailed down the bridge. On my way down, I noticed the Ironman guys coming BACK UP AND OVER the bridge. WTF is this? We have to do this shit TWICE??? I guess there really was only one way back but.....whyyyyyyyy?
Ugh. So I followed the course down and around an area that I'd biked in the tri back in August before. The rain was really starting to come down now. A good, steady rainfall felt great! I didn't notice how heavy it had gotten until my hat started dripping. The trip back up and over the bridge was equally hard as the first time. I started doing run/walk intervals with the diagonal white stripes in the shoulder area between the road and the bike lane. FINALLY, made it over the hill and cranked out the last half mile toward the finish. I was just a few seconds ahead of the woman behind me and I actually felt like I was racing. As I turned the corner to the finish line, a woman WALKED RIGHT ACROSS THE FUCKING COURSE 20 feet from the timing mat! I yelled at her to get out of the way and accidentally/on purpose kicked her leg as I tore past her. The clock read 1:19:18. I'd set a new PR.
Oh I was excited! I did a little jumping around and a happy dance before taking my medal and a bottle of water. I was 99% sure I finished 3rd but needed to see the results for myself.
Results took a looooong time! I wandered around the sponsor booths a bit. Aunt Catfish's always does a breakfast but my stomach didn't want sausage links and eggs. I found the woman who'd chased me and thanked her for pushing me. She thanked me back- she was glad to try to keep up with me because she earned a PR, too!
When the results were finally posted I felt a little torn-
1. YES, I came in 3rd overall female- that is awesome and I felt amazing
2. The 2nd overall woman was in the same age group as myself, she beat me by a couple minutes. If there were no overall awards, I'd have gotten 2nd in my age group.
3. If I'd known #2's age, I could have hung back, let #4 pass me, I wouldn't have placed in the top 3 but would have been #1 in my age group
4. The award medals were all the same regardless of overall winners or age group, so I could have had a 1st place medal instead of a 3rd place medal.
5. But, I might not have set a PR and even though my medal says "3rd Place" I KNOW that it's a better one than the "1st Place" age group win.
Does that make sense?
Anyhoo, I'm happy with it! It rained on and off throughout the morning while I was waiting for the results and awards. Eventually, they posted placements (of those who had finished so far) on a tv screen that I took a photo of. I was tired and wet after waiting over an hour so I just went up to the tent where the awards were, showed them the photo, got my medal, and went home. It was another half hour I found out before they did the little award ceremony. That was fine by me, I needed a shower!
I was 18th overall, not sure how many finishers there were, as I left before everyone was done and as of today the results are not posted online
Chip time: 1:19:16 (8:39/mi)
Gender place: 3rd/unknown total
Age group place: technically 2nd (the 2nd place overall female and I were in the same age group but did not get awards for that)
I added my new hardware to the rack on the wall- it's getting full! Next up- more wedding stuff and the WINE & DINE HALF!!!! We've got excellent costumes (once I figure out how to make them. It involved glow sticks.)... stay tuned.
Posts
