Fitness Things; I Ran a(nother) 10K

A few weeks ago I sent a text message to my friend asking if she wanted to run a 10K with me in April. I thought April was far enough away that I'd have some time to get back into running before I actually had to show up and run. She replied by telling me that she was already signed up for a 10K on March 23rd and I should go with.

After about 30 seconds thinking about it, I decided to go for it. It didn't leave me a lot of time for training, but I figured I would make it work. I'd run a 10K before, I could do it again.

A few days before the race I remembered I had a totally awesome faux camelback that I could wear while I ran and use it to carry my ipod, phone, keys, etc. I was so excited! I started looking for it as soon as I got home from work, but it was a no-go. After two days, the race was the next morning and I couldn't find it anywhere. I thought I would make due with the free pack the race gave us.

And that, my friends, is where our story begins...


Mile 1
Right off the bat I was having a hard time with the bag. The strings were too long and it was swinging all over the place. I had my iphone out to set up my running app so I could track the run, but as soon as they yelled for us to start, I got flustered with my ipod and phone and trying to get them back in my bag before we started. I ended up not even using the app. I just threw it in my bag. The rest of mile 1 I was distracted by the bag as I ran downhill for almost the whole mile and tried to rig some way to tie the strings so it wouldn't swing so much.

Mile 2

Getting to the second mile marker was easier. I'd tied off the strings and triple-knotted them in the center of my chest. Too bad it didn't stop everything from shifting around inside my bag. The water I was carrying - bad idea - my iphone, car key, and whatever else I had had managed to find their way into the corners and bottom of the bag, which was hitting me in the back and elbows. I managed to untie the straps and run for a little while as I rearranged the contents of my bag, but it was too late. I'd already gotten a good thwack in the elbow.

Somewhere in all that commotion I missed the 3rd mile marker. So, it felt like the LONGEST MILE EVER... because it was two miles.

My friend and I passed each other going opposite directions. We high fived, but she was a solid 5 minutes ahead of me, so I was feeling pretty crummy about it.

Mile 4
I kept having to fix my bag throughout the rest of the run, but mile 4 was when my running playlist, which I swore had at least an hour of music, ended. So, let myself stop running and speed walked while I figured out what to do with that. I decided to switch to my phone, which had some music on it, but all of it was SO MELLOW. I was bummed.

Mile 5
...was all UP HILL. It actually helped me, if you can believe it. My motivation was waning because of the music conundrum, but the hills in front of my pushed me. They made me want to keep running - to propel myself on my toes and keep going up the hill as fast as I could. Mile 5 was over in no time.

Mile 6
So, of course, mile 6 felt like it went on forever. Worse, actually, because it was almost entirely downhill. I could feel my knees jamming as my feet hit the pavement. As we passed the marker into the 6th mile, they cheered, "It's all downhill from here!" but they were LIARS! There was a big steep downhill and then a long slow subtle uphill before yet another downhill.

Here I am crossing the finish line at 1 hr and 14 minutes. Not great. Not terrible, I guess.

I'm too impatient to wait for the official race photos. Maybe I'll post some later.

My closing thoughts are these:

I know this sounds like a complain-o-rama, but please believe I am not complaining. This is just how I'm processing and communicating - what I feel are - the facts. It is what it is and it was a heck of a learning experience. Will I ever run with one of those backpacks again? Heck no. Will I ever use my full size 6 year old ipod for a run instead of my shuffle? Probably not. Will I train for future runs over a period of more than 2 days before the race? Yeah, I think so.

So, see, I learned things.

And next time I'll do better. ;)