Forgive me if I ramble incoherently, but I wanted to get these thoughts down before the feeling of the moment leaves me...
Race start time was 7:30, got up at my usual time, 4:15 with 3 rounds of snooze. The morning started off badly, my mom came by when I was snoozing and said, "GET UP!" If you follow my posts on the boards, you'll know that I get up at 4:15 5 days a week and have been doing it for 2 years and haven't ever failed to make it out of bed, so it was totally unnecessary and annoying that mom was kicking me out of bed. Basically was trying to duplicate my normal morning routine, except that we were sleeping at my parent's condo because of the closer proximity to the race start.
Did not do a warm up at all. I was just getting into the corral when the gun sounded. My running partner took off on her own after about 1K. I expected to run most of the race by myself but that happened earlier than I expected.
I did the first 10K split in 1:10:54, a ridiculously slow pace for me.
note to ZIRCADIA - the Creed songs on my playlist, although with inspiring lyrics, were all slow and contributed to the slow 10K!
At ~12K, the turning point (it was an out and back course), something really amazing and unexpected happened. My SIL had a sign with my name on it! She also had a sign for my other SIL. It really, really perked me up when I was flagging. Soon after, one of my big 'power songs' came on and it picked me up even more.
I meant to run with the 2:15 pace bunny and finally caught up with the group around 15K. I decided to keep her in sight for the rest of the race. Sometimes I was a few metres ahead, sometimes behind.
I crossed the finish line in 2:12:55.4, and there was a long walk through to get to the chip return/water station. We Are The Champions was playing and I had a little cry.
Unfortunately my mp3 player got jostled off me in the post-race somewhere.
I got a huge blister. A year of running, 2 20K training runs, not so much as a tiny chafe but come race day ..ow!
Russell Watson - Faith of the Heart (the song that always gets me through the tough races)
It's been a long road
Getting from there to here
It's been a long time
But my time is finally near
And I can feel the change in the wind right now
Nothing's in my way
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No they're not gonna hold me down
'Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith, I’ve got faith, faith of the heart
It's been a long night
Trying to find my way
Been through the darkness
Now I've finally have my day
And I will see my dream come alive at last
I will touch the sky
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No they're not gonna change my mind
'Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith, faith of the heart
I've known the wind so cold, and seen the darkest days.
But now the winds I feel, are only winds of change.
I've been through the fire and I've been through the rain.
But I'll be fine.
Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
I've got faith of the heart.
I'm going where my heart will take me.
I've got strength of the soul.
And no one's gonna bend or break me.
I can reach any star.
I've got faith, I've got faith, faith of the heart.
It's been a long road.
