I have been looking forward to this race since I ran it for the first time last year. I have been going down to Ocean City on the last weekend in April for years now. We went to go support the local humane society who holds a fundraiser each year on the last Saturday in April called Board Walk'n for Pets. Last year we became aware that there was a half marathon and 5k that takes place that same weekend. Since we were already going to be down there I decided to sign up. I would have been tempted to run the half marathon, but a bunch of my family members wanted to run so a 5k was more practical. My mom, dad, my boyfriends girlfriend and few of her friends all ran this race in 2012. We had such an awesome time that as soon as I crossed the finish line in 2012, I knew that I would be back in 2013.
I set goals for 2013's 5k that same day. I wanted to run it in under 25 minutes. I don't run 5k's that often and if I do they are usually just spur of the moment races. Since this has become a family weekend I knew it would be a good goal race since I knew that I would be back to run and I could train accordingly. No one else in my family signed up to run except for me this year, but my parents were still going to come down to support me!
We drove down to the beach Friday night so that we could swing by packet pickup and not have to worry about getting to the race early the next morning. Thank you to my lovely fiance for driving 4 hours to the coast after a long day at work!
Packet pickup was pretty easy. It was held in this beautiful and quaint hotel. It was beautiful at night with all the lights lit up! We were in and out in 10 minutes and on our way to the condo. Which is a good thing because it was almost 9pm and I am always exhausted on Friday nights!
If you have read my previous post then you know that I was not feeling well last week. I thought I would start to feel so much better now that I was on medications, however unfortunately, the medications have made me pretty sick. Since taking the medications I have felt dizzy, nauseous, extremely thirsty and weak. There was nothing I could do about it at this point so I tried not to think about it too much. I just wanted to get a nights rest and enjoy the race and the weekend.
When I woke up Saturday the thought of skipping the race crossed my mind for a brief moment. However, as soon as I stepped out onto the balcony that morning I quickly dismissed that thought. How beautiful is this view? The weather was absolutely perfect. I knew I had to make the most of this amazing day.
I had originally planned to do a warm up mile, but I just didn't feel up for it. I used the restroom and did some dynamic stretching.
Before I knew it we were lining up at the start line. I lined up towards the front right behind what looked liked the more "elite" runners. I made the mistake of starting to far back last year and it was too hard to find an open spot once the race started and I think I lost valuable time. I snapped this picture from the start line. My parents made it to the race and I saw them standing at the start line with my fiance a few minutes before the start. It was a great way to start off the race.
As soon as the gun went off I worked my way to an open spot near the curbs that would allow me to get the best tangents. Most of the race was run right on the boardwalk. I knew that in order to reach my sub 25 goal I needed to run 8 minute miles. I could start off a little slower and finish faster. I know that's the best way to run a race - with negative splits - but it's hard to do.
My first mile was 7:49. Which I was actually pretty happy with. It might have been a little too fast, but yet it left me a little room for error. My second mile was 8:16 and I new that I would have to kick it up a little. A part of me wanted to quit and just race a comfortable pace and not worry about my goals. However, I knew my family was waiting at the finish line waiting for me and I didn't want to disappoint them or myself. My mind was consumed with thoughts during the last 1.1 mile. I usually check my watch to see how much I have left to run. For the last mile I mainly just looked to check my pace to make sure I wasn't going to finish a few seconds after 25 minutes! I would beat myself up mentally for weeks to come if I missed my goal by a few seconds.
My dad snapped this picture of me and I remember looking at my gps when I saw him. 2.88 so just about .2 miles left. As soon as I turned a corner right after this picture I saw the finish line and I looked down at my watch again and saw that I had 40 seconds to cross the finish line or I would be over 25 minutes. I didn't think I had anything left, but I picked up my speed big time and was able to cross the finish line under my goal time!!
As I said before, these medications were making me nauseous so I almost threw up immediately after crossing the finish line. I grabbed some water and snacks from a finish line volunteer and ran to find a trash can! As sick as I was feeling I was still going to bask in the glory of achieving this goal! My official time was 24:54. My fiance asked me if I planned to attend the award ceremony, but I told him no because I didn't think I placed and the ceremony didn't start until 10:30am and I had finished my run just after 8am. We had so much planned that day and I just didn't think there was a point to hanging around for 2+ hours.
So, we walked down to the end of of the boardwalk where the humane society fundraiser was happening to donate some money and snap some photos.
My parents have been trying to get me on a bike for awhile. So, after the race I agreed to join them on a bike ride. I haven't ridden a bike since I was a child and I have been nervous about getting back on the bike seat! Ridding a bike a on the road is a little different than running on the road, so I had a little bit to learn about the biking etiquette but my parents were there to make sure I didn't get run over or wipe out :)
We rode an out and back of 15 miles. I think we would have done even more, but we had massage appointments for that afternoon that we weren't going to miss!
My fiance Larry, my dad and brother all went golfing later that afternoon while my mom and I got massages, pedicures and did a little shopping. Then we all met up at Outback for dinner. It was late and we were all exhausted from the long active day that we all went home right after dinner. It was after 10pm -- and that is my bedtime anyways. I had been checking the race result page all day because I wanted something official. They were finally posted at 10:30pm. I was laying in bed about to go to sleep when I found out I placed 55 out of 700 runners. AND get this -- I won my age division!! I placed 1 out of 69!! This is a HUGE accomplishment for me. I never thought I would win ANYTHING. Now I know this isn't a super competitive race, but it doesn't matter to me. I won't let that dampen my accomplishment. I was bummed that I had decided to miss the award ceremony. But do I really need a medal to validate my win? It would have been nice, but it doesn't matter if I was there or not. I still won my division.
I was over the moon. It is performances like this one that keep you going out day after day to train. It almost erases all the bad training days from your memory. Next weekend is the Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon and I hoping to set a PR there as well.
The next morning we met up with my family and my grandpa who lives in OC for brunch at the Ocean Pines Yacht club. Again it was an absolute gorgeous morning. Look at our views from the table!
It was really a special weekend and the weather made it even that much better. What is your most memorable race?
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