Allen Park Race Report

      3 Comments on Allen Park Race Report

I really can’t begin to describe everything that’s been going on, but top on the list was a big deadline I had at work on Thursday (a week ago today). And then the aftermath on Friday.  I’ll sum it up by saying that 2,800 emails went out Thursday night, and the good news is they went out as they were supposed to. The bad news is, everybody called about it on Friday. Well, okay, not all 2,800, but a lot of them. :p

This is one of my two big stressors at work in the last couple of months, so the good news is that part of it is finished, and there’s a bit of relief because it did go out as expected. The bad news is, there still more to come, and I have another project due at the same time. I did not plan this well!

Anyway, in spite of all the stress at work, on Wednesday of last week, I decided to spontaneously sign up for a 10K on Saturday. Say what??? My training plan for my half marathon calls for speed work, and Saturday’s scheduled run was a “15K.” Okay, seriously, has anyone ever heard of a 15K?? Not me! I was just going to go ahead and try to run 9 miles as fast as I could on Saturday, but then I remembered that the Allen Park 5k and 10K was this weekend, so I decided at the last minute to sign up.  It was only $25, and I do like getting the race shirts.  Um, except for the fact that it turned out to be the exact same shirt as last year, only not cotton! :/ (I don’t actually like tech shirts. I don’t know why, I just don’t find them very comfortable.) So to get the exact same shirt, in a fabric that I don’t even like, when I was kind of a downer. :-p

At any rate, I got up Saturday morning and headed out to my sister’s pick up my packet (my sister had actually picked it up for me so that I could save money by pre-registering), and then I headed up to Allen Park.

If you’ve read my blog for the last year, you might remember that I ran this race with my brother in 2013. I was in the middle of training for a half marathon back then, and I was supposed to run 10 miles that day, so I ran 4 miles to the race, and then ran the six for the race. Turns out that running 10 miles was a lot for me in that heat! But I had good time with my brother, at least.

My family reunion with this weekend, again, but my brother couldn’t make it, so I texted him a picture of the race start and told him I missed him.

 

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While we were waiting, we had a surprise guest singing the Star-Spangled Banner: the 2013 Miss Michigan.

 

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She’s in there, I swear. 😉 She’s in the blue dress in the middle. They told us she is a trained operatic singer, and I must admit, she sounded pretty impressive! Of course, being a girl, I was also impressed by the sash, pretty dress and high heels. 😉

I lined up where they said the 10-minute milers should run, since I was hoping for a sub-9:50. When we got started, everybody seem to be passing me. I was running around a 9:35 at that point, and I tried not to let it discourage me. I just kept going along at my own pace. I had started out way too fast in last year’s race, and I didn’t want to do that again.

They had a water station right after mile one, which was surprising, until I realized that the 5K and the 10K run the same route, with the 10k’rs just doing an extra loop. It was very very muggy, so I decided I would take the water when it was offered. As I grabbed it from a guy, he said, “Power aid?” I replied, “Crap,” without thinking, because I can’t drink that stuff. He was all apologetic about handing it to me, and he said, “Here let me get you some water,” and then he rushed across the road to get me some water. I could’ve kept going, and just not worried about the water, but he was trying so hard, I didn’t want to offend him. But of course, it took time for him to cross the road, get the water and come back. I don’t know how many seconds that took up my time, but I figured it wasn’t going to kill me.  I took the water, drank it, and continued on.

I felt pretty good for the first couple of miles, but by the time I hit the third mile, I was getting pretty tired. And sweaty! I was glad I had brought my sweat rag, because I definitely needed it.  I took water right after the  mile two marker, and then after mile three we made the turn.  If you’ve never done a looped race, let me tell you…the feeling you get when you turn the corner and realize you have to do it all again, well, that just sucks. :p

My third and fourth miles were a little bit over my prescribed pace, but I had stopped for the water because I knew I needed it.  After mile four, I kept going, and I was kind of playing tag team with a lady that looked about my age, and I wondered idly if she and I were going to compete for a place in our age group. I had won my age group last year, thanks to the fact that there were only four runners from age 40 to 44 who it entered. 😉 I had this small hope that perhaps I could do it again, especially if I ran faster than last year, and a 9:50 pace would definitely have been faster. We just kept leapfrogging back-and-forth, where she’d walk, and then she’d speed up again and pass me, while I just kept at my same pace. When we hit the last straightaway before the final turn, she was just a little bit behind me, but right before the last turn, she got ahead of me again.

After I rounded the last corner right at mile six, I heard a surprise voice shouting my name: it was my stepmother! She, my sister, my nephew, and her friend had come to watch me finish! It felt really good having a cheering section, and I put forth everything I had.  I even passed the lady that had been leapfrogging me! As I passed her, I wondered if she was cursing me. 😉

I was really, really tired when I was done, but based on my watch, I knew I’d beaten my best 10k time, which was at the Chocolate Run with Jamie last year. (Also Jamie’s best 10k time.)  My watch said I’d beat my goal of a 9:50 pace, but it also said I’d run 6.25 miles.  😛  Hate that.

I took a post-race picture with my family before my nephew found me a banana.

 

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The plan was to hit the street fair afterwards, so I quickly changed into clean, dry clothes, and then, on the way to meet my family, I passed a guy carrying a cool-looking pint glass with the race logo on it.  I asked him if he’d won something, and he told me he’d taken third in his age group.  I started to get excited…I took first last year, so surely I at least placed third this year, right?

Wrong!

 

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Missed it by *that* much. (Thirteen seconds, to be exact.)  Ah, well, on the bright side, check out my official pace–I wanted a sub-9:50, and that’s what I got. 😉   And, even better–I bet my last 10k time by 91 seconds!!

After the race, I cleaned up, made my famous Lemon De-Light dessert, and then I went to my family reunion, which was a great time, as always.  My sister and I even got a picture together in front of a sign that was very fitting for her (not for me!).

 

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She is the queen of bathroom humor, as anyone in our family will tell you.  😉

I’ll come back soon and post about other things, like JJ’s first-ever travel baseball tournament, and the awesome hockey camp both of my boys attended this week.  But for now, since I was up at 5am to run 5 miles at race pace this morning, it’s off to bed for me!!

Thanks for reading!

3 thoughts on “Allen Park Race Report

  1. Jenn

    A spontaneous 15K… that in itself is something to celebrate. Way to go, Steph! I too have to get to bed. (hugs)

    Reply

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