Red White and Boom 2016
July 4, 2016
2017 Races
January 1, 2017
October 9, 2016
Finish Time — 3:33:04
I never thought I would see the day that there was a Boston Qualifying time next to my name. Sunday, I met that goal.
It was a brisk morning, I woke up and was still full from Pizza Ranch the night before so didn’t eat anything. I gave myself about an hour to get ready and get out the door. My dad stayed the night (poor guy, he didn’t close the bedroom door so the cat terrorized him all night long) and dropped us off at the start line. There wasn’t much traffic at all getting there like I had thought there would be, so we were there about an hour and a half early. Hassan and I found the bag drop off and I duct taped my bag shut and handed it off to the UPS men to be seen after the race. We found a bathroom and did our business and then headed to our meeting spot for Club Run.
About 15 minutes to gun time, we headed to the corral. I lined up with the 3:35 pacer, planning to do around 8:10s for the first few miles and then drop down to an 8 and hold it as long as I could. I ran into an old Cummins, now Medtronic coworker who I used to run with at the start line who I got to follow for a few miles.
The gun went off, Virgina from run club sent us encouragning words as we passed the start line. I looked at my watch, and my GPS wasn’t finding signal, so I just tried to keep up with the 3:35 pacer. The first few miles were uneventful, a little crowded in downtown, lots of weaving. When we turned to Lake of the Isles, I glanced at my watch and saw we were doing 7:40s and the pacer was still pullinng away – yikes. I decided I needed to run my own race and slowed down to right around 8:00s.
The miles around the lakes were very uneventful, chatted with a few people but decided I should keep my energy so stopped talking and locked in my pace. I was looking foward to seeing Club Run volunteers up towards Nokomis so focused on that. I heard Tanya’s cheering and evenutally saw Matt and Cristina around mile 11. I then focused on looking for my family. A little after mile 13, there they were! My awesome cheerleaders with signs in hand 🙂 I couldn’t say much – just waved as I went passed feeling so happy to see them and looking forward to the next time I would see them at the finish line.
I caught up with Jason from running club and ran with him for a few miles. He stopped to tie his shoe so I lost him right before turning onto the Franklin bridge. I was starting to slow a little but started breaking up the race into waterstops. I knew the 19 mile one was the Medtronic stop, so hung onto my pace til then. I grabbed a glass of water and gatorade at the stop and kept going, knowing I was about to hit the hills.
The first hill, the ‘small’ one, took so much out of me. But I got up it and headed toward the big one. Luckily, as I was about to hit the hill, I saw Brian from Northstar Running Club. He graciously ran next to me up the hill and said “Don’t you ever stop fighting” as I got to the top. His words stuck with me the rest of the race when I was about to just give up.
I got to the top of that hill,slowly and made my way to Summit. It was SO DISCOURAGING to see that slight incline on Summit. I started walking… and then arguing with myself in my head… I started going slowly again. These were my slowest miles, almost a 9:00 pace. I hit the water stop and walked through it, drank so water, walked a litle further.. then Brian’s words came back into my head – don’t stop fighting! I was so close to reaching my goals, I had to get moving. I started running again. Around mile 24, I could hear the pacer catching up to me. I stayed a few steps ahead of him.
Mile 25 came and I knew I had to go. I picked it up and fought through the discomfort, telling myself I had less then 10 minutes to go. I started down the hill to the finish, saw Tucker and my dad and Cassie – Tucker told me to go, so I picked it up a little bit more – JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES.
I hit that finish line. 3:33:04.. I QUALIFIED FOR BOSTON!!! 20 minute PR! I cried a little knowing I had done it, but also knowing it probably wasn’t going to be enough to get in. Kristin was at the finish line…. She saw me and I hugged her and cried some more. It was so amazing to have her at the finish line to share my happiness and exhuastion.
I waited with a couple other Club Run people to see Hassan finish. He came in with a 30 minute PR!! 3:50! I am so proud!!!
Colleen saw me at the finish line and I went and found her, I cried a little and hugged her – she ran so amazingly in the 10 miler!!
 |
| I tossed this headband… I am sad about that |
