I caught a series of early Sunday buses to make it over to the park for the early start. One of my coworkers (Andrew) found me waiting for the last bus that would drop us off in front of the race tent. We chatted about our expectations for the race. Andrew said he was hoping to beat the male coworker who beat him last year as well. LOL, well at least we had similar goals! When we got to the start though we both found out our competition (Yes-both of them!) had decided to run the 10k race. Curses(!)-sort of. I texted my husband and told him I just basically had to hold it together to beat my other female coworkers in the 5k. Same was true for Andrew. After a few announcements and a moment of silence for the runners and spectators affected by the Boston Marathon bombing we lined up for the 5k near the front, then got rather self conscious since we were standing a bit apart from the rest of the runners. We made a few jokes about our competitive nature and posed for a couple of pictures. The announcer, with a heavy accent, tried in vain to lead us through some warm up exercises. Then he yelled GO and we were off. I managed to stay with the first three women for about 1/2 a kilometer then they dropped me and by the time I reached the 1 km mark every bone in my body hurt so I slowed a bit and got passed immediately by two other women. (I later learned the leading women were running a sub-5 minute pace, no wonder I was hurting!).
I gutted up a small hill which had a nice gentle downhill onto the main path. The course was not closed so dodging toddlers and very large dogs was a bit of a challenge. I made it to Cable Hill and started to walk. My quads were screaming so I power walked to give them a break. By then the other women from my workplace appeared and I knew I had to get my butt in gear if I wanted to out run them. I started running once I reached the top of the hill and made it to the turnaround. I grabbed a cup of water and after a few sips and spits I was back running. I knew I could make it to the end without stopping so I ran as fast as I could on the flat section and then bombed down the Cable Hill, missing the 10 km race leader and a guy with a stroller and dog by inches.
I hit the last 1.5 km repeating my mantra- GO GO, keep it up-making my next target the two women who had passed me earlier on. One had slowed to a walk so I passed her just before the 4 km mark. I chased down the next women with 500 meters to go, then just tried to hold my pace until I finished. I certainly didn't get the time I was hoping for (under 30 minutes), I came in at 31 minutes flat, but that was good enough for 6th place in my age group, one of my highest placings ever! I also out ran my fellow female coworkers, so I did manage to meet my goal. My coworker, Andrew, also got his goal and even placed third in the 5 km, winning a pair of new Mizuno running shoes!
After waiting around for the award ceremony my legs were rested up enough to do a short run through the park once everyone went their separate ways, then I turned and went along the waterfront, enjoying the beautiful sun and cool weather. I was so thankful to have this time to run and enjoy the sun, grooving out to my music and stopping at the market to grab my reward-a chocolate croissant-before grabbing the bus ride home.
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