On Sunday I ran the Clyde's 10K. Based on the fact that I have not run 6 miles in a LONG time, I was concerned about just completing the 6.2 miles. At several points, I considered not going.
I woke up on Sunday morning feeling extremely nervous. It was like I hadn't ever run a race before! I was a mess. I was supposed to meet Heather at 7:45 for an 8:15 start time. I hopped in my car and headed out. I took the back roads thinking that I would be able to sneak in the back way of the mall and avoid any potential road closures. About half way there, I realized that I had forgotten my race bib.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????????????? Who forgets their race bib? Total rookie mistake. I called Heather as I frantically turned around and headed home. I told her to go to the start line and I would try to meet her before the race but that I didn't think I would make it.
I drove just a little over the speed limit. :)
I made it back to downtown Columbia by 8 am. I called Heather as I jogged from my car over to the lakefront. I found her in line for the porta-potties. YAY! I jumped in line with her and had plenty of time to use the porta-potty then go over to the start line. We also met up with Kate, ErinM and Christina. YAY CCR running friends!
At the start line, we discussed our race strategy. Only Erin was looking for a fast race, so we let her find her way towards the front and the rest of us agreed to just jog. I realized that I was not wearing my watch. UGH! Another rookie mistake. But I decided that it was a good thing not to have my watch...after all, I just wanted to finish the race, right?
It was a beautiful running day. The weather was great, light breezes, sunny day. I was in a great mood after all the craziness of trying to get there on time. After about a mile into the run, Christina started walking. Kate said that she would wait for her. Heather and I made sure they were OK then we went on ahead. It has been a long time since Heather and I have run together so we had a lot of catching up to do. We chatted for several miles as we ran.
Before the race, everyone had been telling us about how hard Rt. 108 was going to be. There's a very long hill that we had to run up. So right before that hill, Heather and I stopped for a water/fuel stop. As we ran up the hill, we passed a ton of people. At the top of the hill, we looked at each other and said "that was it?" While the hill was long, it was not particularly steep. I felt like the hills on the Baltimore Half Marathon course were harder than that one.
So after successfully running up the dreaded 108 hill, we had a huge level of confidence. We entered the neighborhood and picked up the pace slightly. We still chatted easily, so the pace was not extremely taxing on either one of us.
As we crossed the finish line, we had smiles on our faces. I have no idea what our time was. We did not finish in under an hour, but it didn't matter. We had a great run...I proved to myself that I could still run 6.2 miles without having to walk...and we conquered the 108 hill.
The afterparty was a disappointment. The runners who got there before us were taking boxes of cookies and cartons of strawberries. By the time we got there, that was all gone. All I really wanted was a bottle of gatorade, which I got. Here is a picture of us post-race...left to right...me, Kate, Erin and Heather.
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