My Race for the Cure 10 Year Anniversary

Race for the Cure!! I think I have mentioned before that Race for the Cure was my very first race. That was 10 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long! This year I celebrated the big 1-0 in a pretty great, unplanned, way.

The race was later this year than it ever has been since I started running it. It's always been in October and this year it was the first weekend in November. Which also means, it was colder for this race than any other Race for the Cure I've run. I had a really hard time figuring out what to wear. I knew I wanted to run hard for the competitive start at 7:30, so I would not need as much warmth as I would if I was running a more comfortable pace. But then I planned to run the course again at 8:00 with my friend Andrea, whose goal was to PR with a pace under 9:49. It seems petty, but I REALLY hate being cold, and I really wanted to run hard so what to wear definitely mattered.

We met Andrea at 5:45 on race morning to drive to Little Rock together. We ended up getting to our "regular" parking lot earlier than expected and it was nice to not feel rushed. We took our time gathering what we needed for the race and sorting what we would need later. When we were ready, we made the half mile walk to race central. After a quick "tour" of the area for Andrea, we ran a mile to warm up and by the time we finished there was less than 10 minutes until Scott and I started. I asked Andrea to get a quick picture for Scott and me and then we said goodbye for a bit.

At the start line I did the regular last minute things, making sure my shoes were the right tightness, music was ready, and trying to stay warmed up. The countdown began and the gun went off. With a reminder from Scott to not start too fast, and not much else on my mind, we took off. For the first time that I can remember, the first hill, the pass up the Broadway bridge to cross the river, didn't seem so hard. Even with Scott's reminder, my first mile was still too fast at 8:04, but in the moment I was feeling good. And then the second pass over the river, over the Main Street bridge, came. The hill to the top of this bridge is longer I think. Or maybe I'm delusional. It feels way worse and it takes me out, every time. I used the top of the bridge to recover as best as possible so that I could use the downhill of it to regain momentum.

I didn't have a time goal for this race. I knew the first 250 finishers received a medal, and I knew I placed 56th last year. All I wanted was to get a medal. And maybe finish in a better placement. I tried very hard to stay in the moment and be aware of the fun going on on the sides of the course. There have been times in the past that I've done the competitive run and there had not been many groups out yet. Or maybe I was too focused on time to see them. This time though, I wanted to make sure I saw them. They were a good distraction but even though I wasn't going for time, I had seen my pace climbing little by little as we ran over rolling hill after rolling hill. And there was a small part of me that was bothered by that. At 2.5 miles I noticed my average pace was 8:28. I wasn't positive, but I was thinking that might be a PR pace. I didn't know if I could run any faster, but I hoped to at least maintain that average. I wanted to finish knowing I had done my best. So I tried to dig deeper.

The last couple turns I think Scott was trying to tell me to start picking off people. To pass one person at a time. That didn't happen until the last 1/3 mile or so and it wasn't many, but I did. I crossed the finish line and Scott and I were greeted by a bunch of guys shouting so loud I could hear them over my own very loud music. It was probably the most rowdy finish line, medal receiving, greeting I've ever had. But it was pretty great. :-D

I knew I didn't have very long to get back to the start line where Andrea was waiting. I checked my watch, saw I finished with a pace of 8:24, thanked Scott for pacing me, and passed my extra stuff to him before taking off again. I had approximately a quarter mile and 4 minutes to do it. Which doesn't sound like it would be a problem, but at this point there are thousands of people lined up at least two blocks deep and most are walkers. I ran, then jogged, then weaved through participants and spectators. I saw Andrea JUST before I heard the DJ shout Go! We got a quick start line selfie, because it's tradition, and then prepared to run. Except, we were hardly moving.

It's been a few years since I did the general start as a runner. I had given Andrea a place to meet that I thought would be in the mix of runners, but in front of walkers. Now that it's all over, I'm thinking there really aren't nearly as many runners at the 8:00 start as there used to be. That, or they really crowd them in. Whatever the case, we were behind hundreds of walkers. I'm so glad so many people were there to support the cause, but I was feeling bad that I told Andrea to meet me so far back. Because of how packed it was we had a slow start to working towards Andrea's PR. We tried to jog through the crowd, or along the side on the sidewalk, but we were sitting around a 14 minute mile for about 1/4 mile. As we went up the bridge the crowd thinned more and more. At almost half a mile it had thinned enough that we could easily run and pass people as needed. Our pace had already gone from 14 to somewhere in the 11 minute range. I apologized again to Andrea and told her next year to just start in the very front. Or, even better, run the competitive run so she could get a medal for her hard work. :-D I also asked if she still wanted to shoot for her PR goal, which would mean running harder to make up for the beginning. Andrea's answer was to at least run the PR pace from this point on.

A little before one mile I noticed our pace had dropped significantly and we pulled back a little. It was the same situation as my first time around the course. Only Andrea is better about pacing herself. I gave her a heads up about the hill back across the bridge coming up and we slowed a little more. At the top we recovered again, and when Andrea was ready we used the downhill on the other side of the river to pick the pace back up. I honestly don't remember very much talking. I know I tried to encourage Andrea, but also tried not to assume she wanted to hear what was coming up along the course. I also noticed the groups of spectators were way more vocal this time around.
For me, this second time on the course had it's own set of difficulties. Mostly being that I was running on tired legs from the speedy 5k, but also I was now at almost 7 miles of running for the day. I should have mentioned before that part of why I wanted to run the course a second time with Andrea, besides wanting to run with and support my friend, was because I'm also training for a 15k in a few weeks. So I needed the distance, but I was definitely feeling it. Despite that, I was throughly enjoying myself! I love running with Andrea, and I was really loving the experience of truly seeing and hearing the spectators along the way.

We had been on the little rolling hills for a bit when Andrea asked about our distance. Back at the start line her RunKeeper app couldn't seem to find a signal so her distance and pace were off. I knew we had passed two miles but my watch was showing right at 2 miles, and also giving me a warning that the battery was low. I assumed the distance and pace were off because of the low battery. I was hoping that it wouldn't die before we finished because there have been a couple times when something similar to this has happened when the battery was low and it ended up still tracking but not showing. Anyway, so I estimated we had about 3/4 mile to go but couldn't tell her anything about pace, and asked if she wanted to know what to expect for the last few minutes. She asked about the distance from our last turn to the finish line. I told her my best guess was less than half a mile, but more than a quarter. (According to Google Maps it is .4) I also told her she would be able to see the finish line as soon as we turned. She was asking because she had more to give, but didn't want to go all out too soon. I love how Andrea races so smart!!

Step by step Andrea picked up the pace and finished so so strong! I think we finished at an awkward time because there weren't very many people at the finish line. The guys that had been handing out medals earlier had move to just before the finish line. That was cool and I was glad there was some noise as we finished. There just weren't very many runners or people on the sidelines. It was really odd. So it seems as though while the competitive runners may have less excitement over the course, general start runners may have a less exciting finish line. Or maybe it was a fluke. Who knows! Whatever the case, I was still so proud of Andrea and her smart, strong race! It wasn't until we met up with Scott a minute or two after finishing that I really looked at my watch to see our finish time. My watch had tracked the whole time and it turns out that we had done way better than expected. And Andrea learned she has WAY more in her than she realized. Our finish time was 28:54 with an average pace of 9:17.... 9:17!!! That's a 30 second PR for Andrea! WHAT!? Her first 5k was a 9:49 pace on a mostly flat course. This one was far from flat. Incredible!

We took some time to stretch and then walked back to race central to wait for the Survivor Parade which was scheduled to start at 9:30. We had almost an hour at this point. While waiting for the parade we stood around, stretched, went to the the little tent set up for pink ribbon shopping, stood around, and stretched some more. All while trying to stay warm. While Andrea and I were running, Scott had gone back to the car and grabbed our bags that had an extra layer and snacks, but I think I underestimated how many layers post-run I would need. I did not want to miss the parade, and by the time it started I was so thankful.

Staying for the parade is really important to me. It reminds me of why I run this race in the first place. To remember and celebrate the too many friends and family that are affected by cancer. To support the ones I don't even know. It's a very special time filled with smiles and tears.

I tried not to rush leaving, but almost couldn't help it. I had been shaking from being cold for over an hour. We all decided we were ready and we made our way back to the car, trying to be in the sun as much as possible. :)

After ten years, I almost expected this year to be somewhat mundane. "Just" another 5k that had a special cause, but nothing really different from the past. And yet, it was still different. Every year, all ten of them, has been different for one reason or another. I'm already looking forward to what my 11th year at Race for the Cure will bring!

Competitive Run Final Stats~
Finish time- 26:23
Average pace- 8:24 (I found out while we were waiting for the parade that I did in fact PR!!!)
Overall place- 51/173

Soaring at the Sibling's Half Marathon

What started off as a little joke, became one of the best half marathon experiences I have ever had.

Back in March my sister in law, Crystal, and her kids were here for spring break and she said she wanted this to be the year she did Soaring Wings. She's heard me talk about it every year since my first and the time had come for her to make it happen. I was so happy, of course, but when she texted and said she had signed up my youngest brother, Brandon, as well, I was even more so.
The joke comes in when I registered Scott and myself the next day and posted on Facebook that I thought my other brother, Joshua, and sister in law, Krista, should also run with us. It wasn't a joke because I thought they weren't able, but just because I truly didn't expect them to want to. A week or two later in a sibling group text a screenshot for two more registrations showed up. To say I was ecstatic was a vast understatement.

Building or maintaining a solid base was the goal through the summer and official training began mid August. With a new job keeping me busy and a girl's weekend mid way, I was having to be very flexible with my training. Something that takes a lot of effort for me. I like to stick to the plan 100%. Or at least 85-90%. There wasn't a week that went by that I didn't move a run or cut out miles. Throw in a very last minute work trip the week before the race, and I started to wonder if I'd be able to be the encourager I hoped to be for my siblings.

I had told Crystal long ago that I would run with her for her first half marathon, whenever that happened to be. We stuck with that plan, even when Crystal's training had to take a back seat to a back injury flare up. It didn't matter to me what our finishing time would be. Friday night before the race we talked about a plan for the race and Crystal said she would like to run for at least three miles, but really see how far she could go before taking a walk break, and after that we would do some form of intervals.
A couple months before the race, Scott said he would do the race with Krista. She had been training with 3 minute runs/1 minute walks so that was her plan for the race as well. As far as I know Joshua and Brandon didn't have a specific plan, other than to move in whatever way necessary to finish. I also don't know if they had talked about staying together the whole time, or maybe talked about separating at some point.

My brothers and their families drove into town; going straight to the race expo in Conway. So as soon as the kids were out of school, Scott got off work early and we met them there. My nieces and nephews were doing the kid's races, but the mile race was cancelled because of rain, and the shorter races were moved inside. I was hoping to make it for the races but because of the rain it took a little longer to get to Conway than it should have. I was too excited about this being my sibling's first half marathon and made a silly request for them to wait to get their packets until we arrived. I love that they humored me and waited. It was packed at the expo and I know it really would have been easier with the kids if they had all gotten their packets while they waited for us.

After getting our packets we went to dinner and then sent the kiddos home with my parents. We ran a couple errands and enjoyed some sibling time together before trying to get some good sleep. I don't know that any of us slept much, but morning came anyway. :)

The timing of everything was going well, even though only one of three alarms went off. We still met in the lobby and got to the McGee Center in good time. Until we went to try and trade Crystal's shirt and they said the race was about to start. I thought we still had 15 minutes. Ummm, Rookie Move, Heather! I was wondering why I kept seeing 7:10 for start time. I was thinking 7:10 is when the National Anthem would be sung and the prayer said, and following that, the waves would begin. I read wrong. :-/ So the one that has start line anxiety, and desperately prefers to be TO the start line 20 minutes early... had everyone running late.

PANIC!

Okay, not really. But I didn't like it. Crystal, Brandon, Joshua, and I found a place in a corral where we felt reasonably comfortable, but Scott and Krista didn't show up. After a couple minutes Joshua went up to find them. I guess they had stopped because someone was singing the National Anthem. So, we did end up making it to the start line in time, but no one except the people in the closer up corrals could hear. I was so disappointed. I have a really hard time picking just one favorite part of any race. But the National Anthem and the prayer before the race are definitely up there on my favorites list! So Scott and Krista joined us, and it was barely 2 minutes later that our corral started moving. We had time for my traditional start line selfie and then we were moving! I was so excited and caught up in the moment I forgot to say anything to Scott about seeing him at the end. That's my only regret at this race. I'm pretty sure he didn't think anything of it. I love that we all started this race together.

Caught up in the excitement, Crystal and I left my brothers, other sister, and Scott and went on to do our thing. The other four were almost always on my mind. Joshua and I had shared our locations in a group text so that our dad could track us for spectating, so I would occasionally see where Joshua was, and assume Brandon was still with him. But I really had no idea where Scott and Krista were unless Scott texted. From here on, until nearly the end, it's really all about just Crystal and me. I wish I had asked my siblings to write an account of their side to throw in here.

Crystal ran a very smart race. I was so impressed with her. From the start, if she felt our pace pick up, she would say we needed to pull back so that we could run longer before walking. My parents and the 6 grandkids, ranging from 3 to 13 years old, showed up at what has become the regular first stop right about mile 3. The kids looked a little sleepy (they did have to get up early on a weekend after all. ;) ) and the younger ones were maybe a little confused as to why Nana and PopPop were yelling and ringing loud bells. It was so fun seeing not only my daughter, but also my nieces and nephews on the course! Normally I have a pretty good idea where my parents will show up next, but because we were running in 3 groups, Dad said that they may have to split up. So it was kind of a fun distraction for me to think about possible places for them to show up.

At 3 1/2 miles we were tackling the first of the longer hills on the course. Earlier in the race I had asked Crystal if she wanted me to give her a heads up when the bigger hills were coming. She said she thought that would be a good idea. Later on when I asked again she went back and forth, but again decided it would mentally help if she knew what was coming. This first of the hardest hills is nearly half a mile long and begins with a gentle incline but quickly changes to very steep. I dread it every year! It's mentally challenging on top of tiring on the legs and praying your heart doesn't leave your chest before you get to the top. I fully expected Crystal to tell me she was ready to walk when we got to this point. That didn't happen though. Instead, with some goal points we set along the way, she pep talked her way up the hill. Seriously, I was way impressed. This was my 9th year doing Soaring Wings and I'm pretty sure it's only been in the last 2 or 3 years that I have run this whole hill. And when I do it, it usually involves some grumbling or growling. Not a pep talk. Less than 10 miles to go and Crystal was holding strong.



We spent the next few miles with a mix of talking about parts of the course coming up, altering goals, and focusing on running a smart race. Crystal's hope had been to make it minimum 3 miles without walking. After making it up that hill she decided to go for 4, then 5, then 6. And then 7. 7 miles of running after not a whole lot of training in the weeks leading up to the race because of her injury. Before her injury flared up, she had gotten in 8 miles about a month before the race. At the aid station around mile 7 we walked through the water stop and then took a second for Crystal to stretch out and for me to get a boulder out of my shoe. A boulder that was actually a barely there piece of sand, but extremely bothersome nonetheless.
At this point we were excited to be over half way done with the race, but also knew that the "worst" was coming. I've said it before, the back half of Soaring Wings is the worst. Many more hills, short and long. A long stretch of course with no turns. And more of the mental game knowing that the mile 12 hill still loomed ahead. But still, we stayed positive. Even when Crystal started to hurt. We talked about what kind of pain she was feeling. Was it an injury type pain or the pain that comes with distance running. She insisted it was the distance. We didn't have specific intervals for the second half of the race, but picked points to run or walk between. On the hills we would go back and forth counting down cones, light poles, or mailboxes and encouraging Crystal to keep running to those points. Once in a while she would have a little cry, but quickly recover and make it to the next point.
We had seen my parents and the kids a little before mile 5, and then the next time was around mile 9. I would occasionally check on Joshua's location, and our best guess was that he was never more than half a mile behind us. We were also assuming he and Brandon were still together. There was no way to know for sure, and also no way at all to know where Scott and Krista were, but based on how my parents didn't split up like we thought they would, I liked to guess Scott and Krista were half a mile or so behind Joshua and Brandon. Meaning, each group was only 5-10 minutes apart from each other. It was strictly a guess though.

Somewhere around mile 10 we were reassessing our finish time goal. I had been keeping up with our pace and for a while, even with the walking we had kept our average under 11 minutes. At the beginning Crystal was saying she was expecting a 12-13 minute pace and hoped to finish in under 3 hours. After seeing our pace stay under 11 this far in, our new goal became finishing in under 2:30. We knew our pace would likely break 11 minutes in the last mile or two, and that was ok. I was still confident we could make the sub 2:30 goal.

I am pretty sure one of the highlights, or probably the number one highlight, for Crystal was at mile 11 when we saw our family again. Crystal's 7 year old son shouted, "You're doing great momma. I love you!" as we ran by. Of course that definitely got the tears going. At this point she's gone 3 miles past her longest distance ever. She's hurting so badly. And her son has pulled on her heart strings by telling the world that he sees how awesome she is doing. That one took a bit of time to recover from. :)

By the time we were nearing the mile 12 hill, we had run a long stretch. Close to a mile I think. It was the longest run we had since throwing in the walks. As we got closer we decided we would run to the base of the hill and then walk up until we decided to run, or at the top. Whichever happened first. Well, we got to talking to a couple girls and it was a fun distraction. I knew we were heading up the hill, but Crystal did not. She and one of the other girls realized at the same time that we were already about 1/4 of the way up. So we picked a point to get to before walking. We were both feeling the distance. It's a special kind of pain. The kind that's hard to ignore, and when you're not expecting it, it's hard to remember you have earned it. Passing the mile 12 flag was crazy exciting for me. Just one more mile!!! I tried to pump Crystal up with the happy news, but there's a chance she wasn't in the right mindset in that moment.

For the next mile I tried to keep positive and let Crystal know what was coming up. Down the hill- Okay, a couple small inclines that can't really be called hills after what we've done over the last 12 miles- See that intersection right there? That's where we made our first turn at the beginning of the race- Almost there- Around the curve you'll see our final turn into the finisher's chute- Last turn- GO!!

As always, the special kids that live on the Soaring Wings Ranch were there to hand out our medals. Crystal and I got ours and some water and then worked our way through the spectators to find our family. We recouped for a couple minutes and I checked on the location of Joshua. My best guess was they were a little past 12 miles. We decided to walk back up the course, about 1/3 of a mile or so, to cheer them on when they were so close to the end. While we were waiting, Scott texted to say they had just gotten to 12 miles. Crystal started walking back towards the finish line while I started jogging towards everyone else. I saw my brothers soon after Crystal and I separated and yelled and cheered them on until they were too far to hear. I texted Scott to see if he and Krista minded if I met up with them to run the rest with Krista, and he said, "Come on!". So I went one way while my brothers went the other. I cheered them on in my head and pictured them crossing the finish line together. The thought made me smile so big.

I met up with Scott and Krista when they had maybe 3/4 of a mile to go. Krista was all smiles. She joked about hearing Scott's life story and now it was my turn to distract her. So I asked about how things had been going, if they had kept the 3 minute run/1 minute walk intervals, wondering about other runners they had run with, anything to bring a distraction. As we got to the last curve, I told Krista how close she was, pointing and telling her that once we rounded the curve she would see the finishing area. She made kind of a gasping sound and I was so worried that what I said about how close we were made her feel like we actually weren't close enough to the finish. Then with a choke in her voice she said, "That's it? That's the finish??" Scott and I cheerfully said YES and then Krista said, "It's SO CLOSE!!" and started sobbing. I reached over to hug her and she continued to cry as we walked holding each other with barely a quarter mile left.
When she was ready, Krista stood up straight ready to take on the final stretch.

As we got closer to our last turn I was looking for Crystal, Brandon, and Joshua. The night before the race I had told everyone about this sappy vision in my head of how I saw the end of the race. It wasn't something I expected, but I just saw us all crossing the finish line together, no matter when each individual finished. I was hoping that I'd see the other three at the start of the final chute, but as we got to the corner I didn't see them. I knew it would be hard to arrange that, especially without having a way to track where we were. So I wasn't disappointed when I didn't see anyone...

We started the last running interval just before making the last turn and Krista told us she wanted to sprint to the finish. She was not kidding. We made that turn and she took off!! I wasn't actually sure if I could keep up. And then, from the side walking past the roped off final chute, I saw Joshua. And then I saw Brandon. And then Crystal going under the rope (pretty sure finishing off a hamburger as she did so LOL). It happened. We were all six going to finish together. I was so happy. SO. Happy.

Running down the finisher's chute hearing people cheering, knowing that the MC was calling out the names of finishers, and confident that my parents and all the kids were right across the finish line waiting to see all of us finish was the most exhilarating feeling. I feel like I could not hide my pride. I was doing one of my most favorite things in the world. And all my siblings were there with me. Words cannot describe this feeling.

Brandon, Crystal, Joshua, Krista... look what you have done. Look what WE have done.

I don't remember our finishing stats, and I'm not going to look them up. Because it doesn't matter right now. If my siblings decide to do another half marathon, and if they do it for time, maybe the stats will matter then. But right now, to me, it does not matter. We just ran a half marathon together.

We started together. We finished together. Siblings Half Marathon (#1) is in the books! <3