I had honestly been excited for this race for quite some time. I hadn’t run an 8k since my first month of running in 2010 and my Pr for an 8k was 43:20. Also I knew it was a fairly big race with a lot of local competitors. The weather had been forcasted to be beautiful (which it was) and I was gun ho for the last couple of weeks for getting a PR.
Then on Wednesday like I said, I started feel sluggish. My voice deepened and I realized I was getting sick. I debated doing the race. Using my proper blogger technique, I whined about being sick and said oh no I won’t do this race (when it wasn’t really a question that I would…sorry I already paid the 40 dollar registration fee). If I was unable to breath at all or had a temperature I wouldn’t have, but I could breath, didn’t have a temperature by Friday night, I just sounded like a man and was congested.
So I got to the race and did a 2 mile warmup. It felt like I had a million layers of mucus in my lungs but pretended to take deep breaths and made it to the start line. I decided if I wasn’t able to race as fast I would like, at least look intense…so I ran in just a sports bra (I’ve done that in 3 races ever).
Since I was avoiding talking to a lot of people (being sick, I sound like a man), I just went to the starting line. I saw a few friends and then started the race.
The first mile was pretty smooth. It felt actually easy (I was surprised) and someone told me I was 7th female overall and to start moving up. I said we still have 4 miles to go not my time to shine and some other guy said all about the pace. Right then (6:13).
The second mile I found managed to stay (and remain close) with a fellow local area runner Mike. I don’t know why this mile was much slower (more tangents and turns? More talking?), I really haven’t the slightest clue. I wasn’t feeling awful but wasn’t really like…oh today I’m going to the Olympics. (6:31)
Mile 3 was the exact same way and by this point I had made my way up to 5th place female. When I passed 4th place female, she said “oh shit”. I don’t know if she realized how loud her music was or that I wasn’t wearing any but in typical instigator demeanor I tried to muster strength to look like I was cruising by as well as raise the roof as we both went by the water stop. (6:32)
Mile 4 I had my sights on another female and I really started to drop the hammer. Around mile 4, I saw the 3rd place female way ahead in the distance. I started to really try and pick it up. This is where I could feel my lungs full of mucus. Yummm. (6:16)
It wasn’t until mile 4.75 I passed the 3rd overall female but in a turn of events it became an ALL OUT 200 meter dash. She crossed the line one foot ahead of me. I was pretty bummed since it had been a clear outkick and I have always thought of myself to have a decent kick. Unofficial results had us both at tied at 31:50 but had me in 3rd and her in 2nd. Then when they announced official results and awards they had me in second with a time of 31:48 (must have been chip time). Oh and the last mile was 6:18 with my kick that dropped below a 5 minute pace for a few meters (which is a new speed record for me I think)…god knows I could only hold that for the 5 meters.
This race (as you can see) was actually extremely place driven race. I won’t lie that I like to win things…I am competitive. I sought out other ladies and tried to pass them (and I still don’t care about males so high school boys don’t grunt like I’m doing you a disservice by passing you). This is a huge PR for me (12+ minutes) but I know if I wasn’t sick I could have been around 31. I knew no matter what PR I would probably get, it wouldn’t be exactly what I had wanted because I was still recovering from whatever bug went around.
It was really a cool thing to have the race come down to the final meters for second overall. I’ve had plenty of those experiences with swimming but never in a running race really.
Questions for you:
Do you have a good kick at the end? Has it ever come down to the final meters for you?
Do you workout when you are sick?
I’ll do easy workouts unless I have a temperature, can barely breath or feel extremely weak.