Kona Chocolate Run Race Report 2016

Ok, before we talk about my race on Sunday, I need to start with Saturday. Jamie’s first high school hockey game was ‪Saturday night‬, and we were really excited. I was also very stressed and nervous, because my “special project” was being unveiled at the game. 😮 That will be for another post, though. Just keep in mind that I spent about two hours going up and down a 10-foot ladder ‪on Saturday afternoon‬. Then, Jamie’s game was delayed by about 40 minutes because the preceding game went into overtime, and then his game went into overtime! By the time we got done and I got home, it was ‪11 o’clock‬. Considering I had to be up at 5am, because we still had to pick up our race packets, that’s not good!

But on top of all that, there was the weather. I woke up ‪Saturday morning‬ to a temp of about 42°, but it dropped throughout the day. Then, it snowed. A lot. (Sidenote: did you happen to watch the Michigan-Indiana football game ‪on Saturday evening‬? It looked like that in my neighborhood, too!)

OK, so it’s Michigan in November. I realize that’s par for the course most of the time. But even though all Michiganders know that it’s coming, even the hardiest among us has that little “WTF?” moment when the warm weather turns cold, and we have to remind ourselves that yes, winter is still coming. These last several weeks have been unseasonably warm, and on Friday, we hit 70°. If you read my blog with any regularity, you know that I am a weather geek, so I’ve known this drastic change was coming for days, but when Saturday rolled around, with temps in the 30s and a full-on snowstorm, it was definitely an eye-opener. 😮

But I AM a hardy Michigander, so even though I woke up ‪at 5am Sunday‬ to a temp of 32 degrees and winds gusting to 30mph, I still got myself ready, coaxed Jamie out of bed, and we headed up to Plymouth. The poor kid was so tired, having not gotten home ‪until 11:30‬, I just let him sleep the entire ride there.

When we arrived, I parked in the lot that I’ve been using for all the Kona Plymouth runs since we started doing them in 2013. At the risk of giving away what I think is one of the best kept secrets of Kona races, I will tell you that if you do a Kona race in Plymouth, you should seriously consider parking in the public lot. It used to be free, but a few years back, the city started charging five dollars. But it’s worth it! This is especially true for the March and November runs, when you’re looking at potentially miserable weather conditions. After the cold, blustery walk to get our packets, I was able to sit in my nice toasty car, just a few hundred yards from the race start, and I didn’t have to get out ‪until 7:20‬ for ‪a 7:30‬ restart. The best five dollars I’ve ever spent!

Right before the race started, I met up with my friend Renee. She was running the 5k with her niece, but she’s a great friend who came early to see me off and to hang out with Jamie so he wasn’t by himself while I ran. (Yes, I know he’s 14 and capable of taking care of himself, but she offered, and I wasn’t going to say no!)

I was super-nervous all morning about the run. I really wanted to beat my goal of sub-60, but I worried that in those weather conditions, I was going to falter. A friend of mine was going to pace me, but she had to back out when her training didn’t go as planned. I was bummed, but I know that life happens sometimes. I could certainly run the race by myself, but I was really hoping to have someone to help me get through to the end, especially since my last two races (Allen Park 10k and Romeo to Richmond Half Marathon) didn’t go as planned.

I hadn’t seen anything on the race website about pacers, but I hoped they would have them, because they always seem to.  When we arrived at the starting line, I’m not ashamed to say I let out a shout of joy when I saw the tell-tale signs: the race had pacers! Hooray! 🙂 Many kudos to the Kona Company for their commitment to having pacers, even for their smaller-distance races like 10ks and even 5ks.

I scanned the crowd for the 60-minute sign and immediately made a beeline to the person holding it. I’m not shy (ha!), so I immediately introduced myself and told her that I’d been training for 8 weeks to make it under 60 minutes and I was hoping she could help me do it. I liked her right away, because she quickly introduced herself as Karen and said she was excited for me and she and her partners would get me across the finish line. Have I mentioned that I think pacers are awesome? 🙂 We started chatting, and I told her I only had to beat my best time by 54 seconds. She then joked that I could really try to outdo myself and mentioned that the 55-minute pacer was just up ahead. I immediately replied, “And you can just shut up.” Everyone around us laughed and she gave me a hug, saying, “Oh, I’m gonna like you!”

The race started right ‪at 7:30‬, and I will tell you right now that I did not take a single picture during the run, not even my usual starting line selfie. I was focused. And cold! 😛

I started running with Karen, and we chatted for a little bit. We couldn’t help but discuss the weather conditions, since the wind was coming right at us as we started. We discussed other Kona races, and I told her a little bit about our experience three years ago with the first chocolate run. She had run it as well, and we reminisced about the pouring rain at the end. And of course, being the proud mama that I am, I had to give her the Readers Digest Condensed Version of Jamie’s great finish, but also of the great support from the runners that he received at the end.

The race was a little crowded to start, but it thinned out within about half or three quarters of a mile. Karen introduced me to her running partners: Maggie, who was helping her pace, and Liz, who was also a pacer, but pretty much just there to hang out with the two of them since she wasn’t pacing this race. I don’t know that there were any other runners trying for a sub-60 with us. I did notice a couple of women and one man that hung with us for a while, but as the race went on and I got more tired, I honestly don’t know where they went, because I was focused so much on my own race.

I hung back from Karen just a little bit as we approached the 1 mile mark, just because we were heading straight into the wind and I needed a breather. Karen and Liz were chatting, and then suddenly, a man came up from behind, running pretty fast. When he joined our group, he immediately said to the three pacing ladies, “Wow, I didn’t think I was going to make it! You guys were really farther ahead than I thought!” It was then that I noticed that the back of his shirt said “Pacer.” They started talking amongst each other, and they realized that the Kona race organizers had somehow signed all three of them up to pace the 60-minute group! They decided to just go ahead and run the race, figuring they could just hand off the sign among the three of them.  It was kind of funny…here I was so worried about not having a pacer, and I ended up with four! 😀 (I’m not sure why he was so late, though!)

Not long after the man, John, joined us, Maggie saw that I was hanging back just a few feet, so she adjusted her pace to run with me. She looked at her watch several times as we ran together, and commented once or twice that she thought we were actually going a little too fast. But then she admitted that although she was an experienced runner, she was new to pacing, so she was deferring to Karen and John.

We came to a water station not long after the 1st mile. Maggie and Karen called out to our general group that water was ahead, and Maggie added they (the pacers) were going to keep going. I told her that I understood, and she suggested I just grab a cup, pinch it, and take a little bit. Now, I don’t normally like to take water while running, but I knew that I had to keep with them if I was going to have any chance of meeting my goal, but I also knew I wanted some water. So I tried her suggestion, and it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t get much, but at least it was something.

Maggie continued to stick with me for quite a while. Early on, I told her that I was not going to be doing any talking, but I would love it if she would keep up conversation. She laughed, and said to the others, “I don’t have a problem with talking, do I?”

And, true to her word, Maggie talked for the next couple of miles. Maggie is a Boston marathoner, originally from North Carolina. We of course talked about the weather, because every time we turned a corner, it seem like we were getting hit with a cold blast of wind, and she told a funny story of her first experience with cold Michigan running. She was in a running group that met weekly, and one morning, when it was 35°, she assumed no one would show up. She went to the meeting place anyway, since she was the organizer, and she was stunned to find everyone there at the usual time! When she suggested it might be too cold to run, they all laughed at her and told her that in Michigan, 35 degrees isn’t cold. 😉

We continued running, but as I hit mile three, it got harder. I know that Southeast Michigan overall is really flat, but even Plymouth has more hills than where I live, and some of those little inclines, especially when paired with cold wind in your face, were challenging. Maggie could tell I was getting tired, but she continued to encourage me and give me tips. Our 1st mile was pretty close to spot on, ‪at 9:37‬, but we hit that 2nd mile pretty fast, both of us showing ‪a 9:22‬ on our watch. Still, I knew that my watch would read longer than the course, so I wanted to stay under the goal as opposed to right at it.

I started lagging back a little more around mile four. At that point, I remembered what my friend Katie had texted me earlier that morning to encourage me before the race. (I had followed Katie’s “best 10k” plan for my training.)  I’d told her I was nervous, and the weather wasn’t helping.  She told me to just remember that I had trained for this, and that my body was capable of it, even despite the weather conditions. (Actually, her exact words were “F*ck the weather!” 😉 ) She told me to remember how good it would feel to make my goal, especially when I hit those challenging miles three and four. She was spot on, too: miles three and four were when my mind really wanted to quit. I didn’t, though, and I’m positive that if it hadn’t been for the pacers, I would’ve. I didn’t want to disappoint them, and I knew if I could just stick with them, I’d at least get my PR (sub 1:00:53), if not a sub-60.

As we neared the end of mile 4, there was another water station. I tried Maggie’s technique of drinking water while running again, but I ended up choking on it. She was a bit ahead of me at this time, but she heard me coughing and turned around to check on me. Bless her heart! I was fine after a second, but it wasn’t fun.

We passed the mile 4 marker and although I was really laboring at that point, I was only a few feet behind my pacing “group.” I just kept plugging along, telling myself that it was “only” two more miles. I kept looking at my watch, more than I should have probably. Maggie, who was a few feet in front of me, looked back and must have seen me checking my watch, because she said, “You’re in the homestretch now. Don’t think. Just let your mind go and follow my feet.” I’ll admit that I was kind of out of it at that point, but in retrospect it was the perfect thing for her to say. It gave me something to focus on other than running, and it actually did help a lot to literally just watch her feet and mimic her movements.

According to my watch, miles two, three, and four had been in the 9:20s, but mile five was a 9:34. I knew I was slowing down, but I figured if I just kept following the pacers, I would be OK. My watch was off by about .07 at that point, and I waited until I hit the 5.27 mark on my watch before checking my time. I showed 40:49, and immediately I started to panic, because I I knew that running a 10-minute mile for the last mile was going to be dangerously close. But then I remembered that I was actually running under a 10-minute mile! Your mind does funny things to you when you’re exerting yourself beyond your normal capabilities. 😉 I wasn’t able to do the detailed math in my head, but I figured if I could just stay at the pace I was at, I would be really close.

At that point, the pacers really started to pay attention to me. A couple of them got concerned, because they couldn’t find me, but what they didn’t realize was that I had taken off my green jacket, and was now sporting my pink Under Armor top, so I wasn’t quite as easy to spot. They found me, though, and they really started talking to me as we neared the finish. Maggie was just a little ahead of me, and she was really encouraging. As we came upon a turn, Karen turned back and said to me, “Last straightaway, you can do this!” The funny thing is, I’ve done this course enough times to know that there were still two more turns to go, but I didn’t say anything. Mostly because I couldn’t talk by then!

It was at that point that I just knew that I was going to do it, because I just felt like there was no way I was going to let myself quit with having gone this far and now with so little to go. But I’ll tell you what: it was hard! That straightaway that Karen had mentioned was a long one, and it was head first into the wind. Those winds had not died down a bit since we started! All four of the pacers we’re cheering me on in that last leg, telling me that I only had half a mile to go. I manage to catch up to Maggie and John, but was still a little bit behind Karen and Liz. As we made the second to last turn onto Deer Street, they were probably six or seven feet in front of me. We were within a 10th of a mile of the finish, and both Karen and Liz started calling back to me, “C’mon, Stephanie, pass us! Come on, you can do it!” I will always remember going underneath the stoplight there at Ann Arbor Trail and giving it everything I had so that I could pass them, because I didn’t want to disappoint them! It was probably only by a couple of feet, but I did indeed pass them both on my way to the finish line.

When I first saw the clock, it was at 1:00:17, but I knew I had started some time after the gun, so I just kept on running until I hit that mat, and then I stopped my watch and stopped running–thank God! 😉 As soon as I finished, all four pacers were right there with me, congratulating me and telling me that I had done it! It was such a great feeling to have not just one or two but FOUR people there at my side giving me hugs and congratulating me! Although my watch seemed to indicate that I had finished in under an hour, I really had no idea if I had actually done it, but all the pacers said I did, so I believed them! I was so happy to be done, and to have finished within my goal, it was almost overwhelming. Even though I was a bit emotional, I had enough presence of mind to thank each of them for helping to get me to my goal and to ask them if I could get a picture of us together so that I would be able to remember them. John ended up being the one to take the picture, so he’s not in it, but Liz, Karen, and Maggie all posed with me.

I will probably never see them again, but I hope they know how important they were to me that day, because I am confident that I could not have met my goal without them.

Almost as soon as we took the picture, Jamie was there by my side, asking me if I had done it. I got a little worried, because he was actually within the race chute, which of course you’re not supposed to do if you don’t have a bib number. But he’s 14 and didn’t care. 😉 (He did get admonished on our way out for not having a bib number, though. 😛 ) I went to go grab my medal, but discovered that I didn’t actually get a medal for the first race. That was surprising! It turns out that the medal for the five and 10K are the same, and they only give you one of those, plus the “chocolate double” medal, but you have to wait till after the second race to get them both.

At that point, I didn’t really care. I was exhausted and just wanted to have some water and rest. I stopped a stranger and managed to get a picture of us quickly.

After that, Jamie and I headed over to my car (yet another great reason to use the public parking lot), where I sat for about 20 minutes and caught my breath before doing it all over again for the 5K! (Much slower that time though.;) )

I could write a whole separate race recap of the 5K, but this is already way too long. :-P. I will summarize it by saying that Jamie, who I knew was tired from the hockey game the  night before, promised me at the beginning that he would stay with me, knowing that I was going to run much slower than our normal 5K pace after my hard run. But then, despite the fact that he tripped over a piece of uneven concrete at mile 1.1, falling hard and causing him to walk for almost a quarter of a mile, he still managed to pull away from me in the last mile and finish a full minute ahead of me. The little sh*t! 😉  I was really proud of him for putting forth the effort, though, despite all the obstacles against him!

Needless to say, I didn’t take any pictures during the 10K, but I did take a few during the 5K.

So many people at the 5k!! And this was just the second wave!

Pre-race selfie, with a hysterical photobomber named Dave.

In case you wondered, yes, my son is running in pajama pants. :p

See the snow??

Clearly, I suck at the in-race selfies.

Other than his fall, it was actually a nice run. I was pretty worried about him after the fall, but when he started running again, and then actually pulled ahead of me, I figured he was fine. As for me, I was still pretty tired, so I took it pretty easy. For a while there at the beginning of the 5K, I was questioning my sanity in signing up for a second race, but when I was done and got my two medals, I was happy that I had decided to run both.

Once I found Jamie after I finished, we headed over to get our chocolate. I am happy to say that unlike three years ago, the chocolate tent was much more organized and it was very quick and easy to get our treats.

Finally, after three years–we got our chocolate!! 😉

They gave us a cookie, a couple of pieces of candy, and a peppermint stick, as well as hot chocolate and chocolate milk. I loved the cookie, was so-so about the candy, and skipped the peppermint stick (not a fan), but the hot chocolate was yummy and warm, which was just what we needed. I saved the chocolate milk for later, because I love chocolate milk, and I wanted to really enjoy it.

Usually, after our races, Jamie asks to go to Panera for an Asiago cheese bagel. This time, however, he spotted the Jimmy John’s right next to the race finish, and he decided he wanted that instead. I was not at all ready for Jimmy John’s that early on a Sunday morning, but I wanted to reward him for his hard work (especially after his fall 🙁 ), so I let him get a sub while I finished my hot chocolate and cookie.

I was so happy to have my cookie.

I tried to look up my 10K time using the barcode on my bib, but it kept pulling up the 5K time, which I really didn’t care about. I heard someone ask another runner there at Jimmy John’s how to find out their time, and the woman mentioned that there was a tent that had computers where you could look up your time. I had waited over an hour to determine if I had really made my goal or not, so I left Jamie at Jimmy John’s and rushed over to the tent, where I waited patiently in line until I finally had a chance to pull up my information:

For a brief moment, I thought my incredibly-super-fast-amazing finish time might be worth an age group award. Um, yeah…no. :p

As you can imagine, I was really excited to see that I had, indeed, beaten my goal. 🙂 I texted that screen shot to just about everyone I knew who had any knowledge of my goal, including my three Saturday morning running friends, Renee (who had already left), and of course Katie. And then my husband, my sister, a few random strangers… 😉

After that, Jamie and I headed back to the car and drove home. Jamie was happy to have his medal, and I was happy to have my new PR, as confirmed by Garmin the next time I logged in:

A trophy AND fireworks. 😉

If you actually read this entire post, God love you. 😉 If you just skimmed down to the end to see my finish time, that’s perfectly okay, too. To be honest, I write these posts mainly as a way for me to look back and remember the details of some of the more important moments of my life which I would otherwise forget with the passage of time. So, to that end, thanks for reading, and thanks for indulging me! 😀

PS:  For those who are worry-warts like me, Jamie is fine.  He is also very, very sick of his mother asking him if he is okay after his fall. 😛