My First 15k Race!

This race weekend was a weekend of firsts for me, the best of which was finally running a full race with my running buddy, Angela.

Angela and I have talked many times about traveling to do a race together, but have never followed through. A couple months ago it came up again and I told her I knew the Hot Chocolate 15k in St Louis was coming up. Next thing I know, we're both signed up. :-D We decided to make a weekend of it and made the 5-6 hours drive Friday night. Our first night we stayed with Angela's parents who live across the river in Illinois. Two firsts right from the start- for dinner Angela introduced me to a St Louis original, Imo's Pizza (delicious!!), and our stay at Angela's parent's house. I've never been to Illinois before. :) Saturday Angela gave me a tour of her hometown before we went into St Louis.

Our first stop was Union Station where the expo for the race was being held. This expo was pretty great. Not for the amount of vendors, or any freebies that were given out, but because it was very well organized, even with the large number of people wandering around. The volunteers were well informed and were able to guide racers from one station to the next to gather everything through the check in process. Another thing I really liked was that there was a whole table for trying on our race hoodies (Hoodies, not t-shirts!) without having to take yours out of your swag bag. Then there was another area for exchanging if needed. Everything flowed very nicely!

Once we were done at the expo we decided to get a feel for the course and drive it. Angela has done the Hot Chocolate 15k in St Louis twice before, but since her last time running it, the course has been moved from the downtown area to Forest Park, with a couple miles outside the park. This actually was not as easy as we expected because of a couple areas we were unable to drive through, or signs we missed for turning. We got a good enough idea of the course that once our drive got us back to the park we decided to move on with our day. It was past lunchtime and we were hungry! The plan for lunch was to try out another local place called Fitz's where they make and bottle their own root beer (in a huge variety of flavors!). The food was delicious and it was really neat to see the bottling process. It was a fun place to visit!

Full from lunch we went to do a little shopping. We had fun and lost track of time, which had us getting a late dinner and checking into our hotel later too. This is probably the latest night I've had before a race, but it's pretty worth it to have the time with Angela. We spent a quite a bit of time gasping over our view before getting our stuff laid out for Sunday morning.

I didn't sleep much Saturday night. I don't know if it was nerves or what, but I woke up long before my 5:15 alarm. When we were both ready, we went down to get some breakfast (breakfast at the Hampton Inn is SO good!) and then drive to Union Station where we would catch a shuttle (another first!) over to Forest Park. We hit every red light in the mile and a half between our hotel and Union Station. I was starting to get a little nervous. The last shuttle was scheduled to leave at 7, and with a start time of 7:30 I felt like we were cutting it close already. We got super lucky finding a parking spot about 2 blocks away, not only that, but it was free. In a city where it seemed impossible to find a place to park that didn't have a fee, we happened to find one quickly and at a time that my anxious self needed most. Right at 7 our shuttle (school bus) left Union Station.

Even though I was still anxious (Start line anxiety is real, people!) I felt better once the shuttle was moving. I knew that no matter what I'd cross the start and finish line. It was still difficult, but I think... hope... Angela could tell I was trying. lol I think I was even able to remain fairly calm when we arrived at the park but had to wait our turn in the line of buses to get to the drop of location, even though we were in a roundabout area with no traffic other than the busses. I really was just wishing they'd open the doors to all the busses and let us off. I'd have rather walked 50 more feet than sit on the bus any longer. Finally it was our turn. We were 10 feet off the bus before Angela and I started jogging to the gear check tent... except we couldn't find the tent. There were so many people around and I was really surprised considering the race was about to start. Why wasn't everyone in their corrals!? So we followed the crowd of people into a building packed full of racers... where there was nothing happening. We asked a number of people if they new where gear check was and no one had a clue. I was looking for race volunteers, while Angela had a better idea to look at the bibs of people to see if they had the gear check tag taken off. No one did. It was like the tent didn't exists. We were leaving the building and as we stepped out heard the National Anthem being sung. We stopped moving, and as soon as it ended started jogging again. I noticed a tent on the other side of the corrals, so we tried to go that direction. I have no idea how people got to the gear check tent before the corrals filled up. There had to be a way around, but we couldn't find it. At this point the race had started... Actual, for real, countdown and all, started. Definitely a first. I have never missed a start. And we still had not made it to gear check. I was about to run the whole 9.3 miles with my bag. I didn't even care. We found a place where the corral gate was separated and went in, and basically worked our way across the corral, like a fish swimming upstream, while that section moved forward, waiting for their turn to start. I felt horrible and it seemed to take forever to get to the next open section of gate, but we got out of the corrals and started jogging again to the tent. It took very little time at all to check my bag, so we made a fast stop at the porta potties that were right behind the gear check tent and just before the corrals. I had been listening to the MC announce the start of each corral and at this point he had called through C. We were in corral E, and based on all that I guessed where our corral people had moved forward to and found an opening in the gate. Turns out, I guessed correctly. We were right with the others in E. We had missed the official start of the race, but not the start for our corral. I was truly amazed. We had just enough time to get my traditional start line selfie before our group moved up. Within 2 minutes of joining the corral, we were crossing the start line. It was such craziness, but we made it. :)

The course for this race is very nice. As I mentioned before, most of it is in Forest Park.

What I remember of the area through the park at the beginning, and it's probably because we drove it first, is all the bridges. They were beautiful! If it weren't so cold, I would have taken pictures. My gloves have lost the ability to be able to touch the screen effectively on my phone. It's pretty disappointing given how much I like to take pictures when I race. Anyway, it was so pretty. I love running by water, and all the bridges we crossed were over water. There were aid stations every couple miles and a couple of them had special treats. The first one I remember, a little before mile 2 I think, had large chocolate chips, and another one had marshmallows. I have no idea if all the stations had treats.
We left the park at about 4 1/2 miles and shortly after mile 5 we entered The Grove. I had to look it up, but I figured it was a big landmark for St Louis because there were big light up signs at either end of the main road. It's a business district, but from what I saw there's a lot of art and diversity as a part of the area.

Leaving the grove we made a somewhat tight U-turn in a courtyard type area to head back towards the park. Around this point is where we had decided to stop driving the course on Saturday, but I knew once we were in the park it was mostly a reverse of what we had already done. Up until now I had been feeling ok. The temperatures were so cold but I was trying to ignore it. I actually did take one layer off around 2 miles, and I didn't feel TOO cold unless we were running into the wind or a big gust would blow through. But around mile 7, with a little over 2 miles to go, I was starting the positive self talk, and at the same time, hoping I was the encouragement Angela needed to get us through the next 20+ minutes. Angela had mentioned being prepared to walk if needed and while I fully believe there is no shame in walking, I was fairly sure Angela didn't need a walk. So I worked on finding out what we both needed to get to the finish. I cheered on runners we passed as they were heading out and we were heading in, we both put on music, and with just over one mile to go I told Angela to start counting "roadkill" (runners you pass on a course). Roadkill is something Angela has told me about for her Ragnar races. It's kind of stuck with me for the last couple years, but I knew it was something she would relate to. So we started counting. It's actually kind of amazing how much more you notice about the runners around you, when you're counting them as you pass by. Two distinct people I remember in this last mile- One lady was walking, and we had such a minimal distance to cover, compared to what we had already done, so we both were telling her to keep going. She told us her asthma was acting up. Ugh! No good. I didn't count her in our roadkill count. The other one was a little girl, maybe 7 or 8 years old. She was with her dad or other adult family member and I was just amazed that she was more than 8 1/2 miles in to this 9.3 mile run. She wasn't the first kid we had seen either. I can't even remember the number of kids we passed, either going the same direction or passing on the out and back section. In fact, there were at least two the passed US on the way back as we were on our way out. It was the coolest thing!
I was counting down the minutes as we got closer to the finish line. It's been a while since I've done a race that I wasn't able to picture the finish line. Having no idea where the last turn actually was, or what it looked like was odd. So I just kept counting down and looking. I saw the mile 9 marker and new we had 1/3 mile to go. I saw the mile 3 marker for the 5k runners and knew we had just 1/10th to go. It was about that time that I saw the finish line arch through some trees. Angela said it was so far. I felt that. But said no way, it's right there! We were tired and we were so cold, but we were also 45 seconds from being done!
We crossed the finish line and I remember passing quite a few people before I going up to someone holding out a medal and trying to smile while saying "me, me, me!" :-D But we were not so done and out of it that we didn't see a photographer and stopped for a professional picture. Oh, yes... FREE pictures! Oh how I love a race with free pictures!!

From this point on, for the next hour or so, things are slightly foggy. Well, anything after the first 15 minutes post race, that's what is foggy.
We received our medals, and along with that there was a guy standing towards the end of the finisher's chute with a basket of Nuun samples. I immediately opened one and practically broke a tooth biting it in half to get in into my bottle, but I wanted to do what I could do stay hydrated and sane. I had planned to have more water through out the race, but the one time I grabbed some, it was literally frozen. In addition, I didn't bring my own water bottle or fuel of any kind. Probably that wasn't very smart, but in the packing moment I thought I'd be ok. So by the end of the race I was definitely needing fuel and hydration. I practically drank a whole bottle of water right away while I waited for a Nuun tablet to dissolve in my next bottle of water. Our first stop was the gear check tent (which was WAY easier to find at this point than it was before the race when there were thousands of people around). We both had dry layers in our bags. The difference in how things went from this point on is that Angela went into an oversized porta potty and changed nearly completely, while I just took off my running jacket and added a couple dry layers to my already wet self. Note to anyone reading... this was a bad, BAD, idea.
After changing and adding layers we went to use our coupon and get our finisher's mug of goodies. Thankfully there wasn't a line and we got our mug quickly, but things went downhill for me so quickly that I didn't even enjoy all my stuff. There were many blow up photo ops and I had planned and hoped to get pictures with all of them.

Pictures with all of them did not happen. With each step I felt myself freezing up. Shaking a little more. We got our picture with the one giant chocolate bar and I told Angela we could leave. She told me it was fine and we could stay for more. I believe she meant that because she thought I was thinking she needed to head to the shuttles. I'm sure if I had been in my right mind, that would have been a part of my thought process. All I could say to her was, No. I have to go. I needed to get out of the open air. Where I expected the shuttles to be was actually only the start line, and when I realized we still had a ways to get back (not actually that far, but it felt like way too far) it was all I could do to not start crying. Angela was talking to me. I truly have no idea what she was saying. I was trying to pay attention but the cold and pain was getting worse and worse. I was carrying my finisher's mug of goodies but couldn't figure out the best way to hold it so that it wouldn't hurt or so that I wouldn't drop it. The shaking was so bad my hot chocolate was sloshing over the sides of the cup. I saw the busses but there was a short line. I vaguely remember Angela saying something about having to wait in line, but did we actually have to since there were a number of busses there waiting. I'm pretty sure she made a decision to not wait in the line of only about 10 people, but it was 10 people too many because at this point I had started crying and was not able to get it together, and we moved on just passed the first bus and got on the second bus with two other people. We went straight to the back where I proceeded to cry. I couldn't figure out what would best make me feel better. I took off my gloves so that I could maybe use my hot chocolate to warm up. Before I even got to wrap my hands around the cup I was jerking uncontrollably. It would't have mattered, it took less than 5 minutes for the hot chocolate to go from scalding to lukewarm. The outside temperature was just too cold. Some time between when we got on the bus and when the bus started heading back to Union Station, I began to have some clarity. I was still cold, but I could control my movements again. I was able to have a little bit of the treats from our mug and fondue. Angela was so sweet and opened a few of the treats for me. I was even able to finally answer some texts and messages from my family and friends.

I've never had symptoms of hypothermia before. Another first. I wouldn't say I was actually hypothermic. That could be overly dramatic. This was by far the coldest race I have ever run. I've never felt like I did post race. And that includes my first full marathon where the temperature dropped 30 degrees and I finished the race in freezing rain and sleet. I had to look up the symptoms because I didn't want to exaggerate. On a minimal scale, I met about half of the symptoms. Symptoms or not though, I despise being cold, and this feeling was beyond miserable. Words can't compare. By the time we got back to Union Station (a 10 or so minute ride), I was just a normal cold rather than a not able to function cold. We got off the bus and started walking back to Angela's car. Angela offered for me to go inside and she would meet me on the street. I told her that was silly and I'd walk to the car. She then pointed to the street we were parked and said, that's where we have to go... it was only a block or two, but to look at it, it felt SO FAR AWAY. I didn't even hesitate. I said, ok, I'll come out when your pull up. Looking back it seems so stupid. But I really think I would have fallen back into a not good place if I continued walking to the car.
This whole last bit of my recap is not to feel sorry for myself but to seriously point out the importance of dry clothes post cold weather race. I didn't even mention the temperatures. When I say it was cold, I mean IT. WAS. COLD. A feels like of 9 at the start, and 17 when we got back to the van. Not good in sweaty clothes. Angela definitely did the right thing in changing as soon as we could! Lesson learned. We got back to the hotel and while we waited for the elevator in the parking garage I couldn't help but get down close to the space heater. I would have hugged the thing if I wasn't worried about burning my clothes. Although, that may have felt better than the cold I was still feeling.

I'll bet you're thinking this is where I wrap things up. Nope. :) While we were in the room getting things sorted and ready for hot showers I noticed that my medal was missing a piece. The top of the medal has chocolate with a bite out of it, but my chocolate was missing. Instead it was very sticky gold. I figured I would email the directors later on and see if I could get a replacement. I went back and forth about if it mattered. But really, it did. It mattered a lot. We had also talked about walking from the hotel down to the arch, a less than half a mile walk, and getting some fun pictures with our medals before leaving the hotel. I still wanted to do this, but was disappointed that my medal would not be whole in the pictures. As we walked, I decided that it was all a part of this story of firsts. We took our pictures of our medals with the Arch, using Angela's for the up close ones, and then went back to the car at the hotel. We had decided to go back to Forest Park, taking a chance that anyone would still be there and be able to help me with the medal situation. I was resigned to the worst case scenario in which I would be told I'd have to contact the director via email and then maybe hopefully they would have a medal available to send me. I had to walk all over the race area and talk to a handful of different people, but in the end the best case scenario happened. I left the broken medal on a box next to a bin of extra medals and drove away with a good one. I could have cried again I was so happy. Another first and lesson learned. If your medal is anything but perfect, take a chance and try to get one that IS perfect!

My weekend of firsts did not end there. Apparently it's blasphemous to say I've never been to IKEA... so before we even arrived in St Louis we had planned to go to IKEA after the race to get meatballs (the big thing, right?? lol) for lunch and then walk around before getting in the car for 5 hours. It was a fun experience that I look forward to doing again when I've had more sleep, less miles run, and more time to truly enjoy the walk through. :)

From new restaurants, to record low racing temperatures for myself, to post race happenings, this was definitely a weekend of firsts. Angela and I have run sections of races together, but never a race from start to finish. I'm so happy we had this experience together! I would not change a thing. Every experience helps us grow as runners. Including a compromise in paces in order to run together or temperatures that turn your hair into icicles (that actually happened to Angela!). What an experience this was. So much so that with only two runs post race and a recap not complete, I have already signed up for another Hot Chocolate 15k!! Two months to go. Let's see what I can do in that time!

Final race stats:

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

That Time I Got First Place!

I've said it so many times it's almost ridiculous, but the whole "I never thought..." expression has been a regular part of my vocabulary for so many years. The phrase, "Never say never." repeatedly comes to mind. "I'll NEVER do that distance." "I'll NEVER run for speed." "I'll NEVER win an award at a race."

When I started running 10 years ago, if you had told me that one day I'd be in the top three finishers for my age group I would have laughed so very hard. If you had said the same thing even just a few months ago I would have adamantly said you were wrong.
And yet, here I am today with a FIRST PLACE finisher's award in my hand! I have been analyzing, and over analyzing this win all day. Scott finally told me tonight to knock it off. I won. It's amazing!

Let's rewind...

A couple months ago Scott and I heard about a fundraiser one mile race my kid's school was having. In the interest of being supportive we signed up. At the time it was just about helping out and running a fast enough mile to make sure I didn't embarrass myself for signing up in the first wave- finishing in 8:30 or faster. I knew I had done that before, but I was coming off of a PR half marathon and wasn't sure what to expect. Then I had a hard time recovering from that race. Normally I'm back to running comfortably within a week of a half marathon. My first truly comfortable run was almost 2 weeks later, only a week from the one mile race. I was definitely concerned about how I was going to confidently put myself in the wave I signed up for. Scott kept telling me it was only a mile, don't overthink it! I got in two fast mile speed workouts, and then it was race day.

I woke up nervous. I have done countless 5k's, 14 half marathons, and 4 marathons, and yet, I was just as nervous for this silly one mile race. But it wasn't silly. I had a goal in mind. My previous 1 mile PR was 7:47 during a one mile time trial back in November. So, I hoped to PR at this race with a time of 7:45 or faster. I knew my biggest hang up would be the weather. We went from late winter type weather, had a two week long spring, and then full blast into summer. I had hopes I could push through whatever weather we had.

Before the race Scott and I met up with Angela and we got a warm up in. About 9 minutes before the race was to start, Scott made a comment about it being weird that no one was at the starting line. He's used to people milling around long before start time and the two of us being lined up at least 15, but usually closer to 30 minutes before we start. Just a few minutes later runners were called to the line. All of a sudden I was nervous again. It was so warm and felt so humid. A beautiful summer morning in the south... unless you were running a race. :)

The running field for this wave was not big and mostly made of of kids. Between the weather and knowing the high energy these kids have, my goal quickly became to not come in last in this wave, with my sub goal still being to PR.
We were sent off and it didn't take long for me to realize I wouldn't be able to get my 7:45. 1/4 mile in I truly thought I was going to be sick. I looked at my watch to see I had been running a 6:30 pace. WHOA! Fast and amazing, but way too fast to start for sure. I slowed a little but it didn't help the sick feeling. I did talk myself down from it, and it later occurred to me that I had a banana with my breakfast. I can't have bananas before I run. I know this! I don't know why I did this time. Maybe it had nothing to do with how I felt in the first quarter of the race, maybe it had a lot, I don't know.
I was in the back of the pack of runners. A few passed me, I passed a few, and there were a couple kids I played leap frog with, but generally I tried not to think about anyone around me. If I couldn't get 7:45 maybe I could still be close to 8. The course was an out and back route on two streets, so I got to see the lead runners fly by me after they turned around. I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been, to see Scott not too far behind the lead runners. It made me happy. He runs so many races by my side and doesn't race his own pace. I'm glad he did this one for himself. (Next time I'll get him to do a 5k at his own pace!) I took the hairpin turn at the half mile mark and made the move to pass a couple students. In the last quarter mile I was passed for the last time by two boys I had been passing back and forth, and then also a couple adults. Also Angela's daughter passed me and Angela came right next to me. I had seen the participant list and knew there were only few ladies in this wave. A competitive emotion hit me and all I could think was, "BEAT ANGELA!" I was fairly sure I did, but it was super close so I wasn't positive.

The second wave began at 9:30 for the other runners and walkers. This group was significantly larger and included my daughter. When they called the group to the starting line I made my way down the street a little bit so I could try to get some pictures of Evie. I got a couple of her at the start, but her finish snuck up on me and she passed back by before I realized it was her. This girl can run! I have hope she'll put her long legs to use and start training with me. She's got an excellent stride. :)

There was a carnival following the race, and the awards were given out a little while later after the two waves were combined and settled. I was confident Scott would get an award and wanted to stay for that. There were many awards for many age groups. I was incredibly impressed with how fast these kids are! When it got to my age group the MC announced the third place winner, then the second place- Angela!! I was so happy for her. At this point I figured I hadn't actually beat her across the finish line. That was ok with me. But then he said my name for the first place winner! I didn't believe it until Scott nudged me to get up. What in the world!? As best I can tell there were 20 women in my age group. I know that most of the ladies in my age group that normally run races and place weren't at this race and that's where my overanalyzing came in. If they had been there, there's zero chance I would have placed at all. So in my silly head I was wondering if it even counted. Of course it did! At THIS race is all that matters. At THIS race I ran hard. At THIS race I placed first in my age group. Of course it counts.


Official stats:
Clock time- 7:59
Watch time- 7:58
Age Group Place- 1/20
Overall Place- 55/283

I need to be better about not comparing myself to others. Enjoy the moments. And never ever doubt where I belong.