Jamie’s Kona Race Report

Last Saturday was Jamie’s fifth (yes, fifth!!) 10k race.  He ran the Kona Run for the second year in a row.  His last day of school was the day before, and let me tell you, everyone in the house was happy when we could put 6th grade behind us.  :/  Jamie is an excellent student, but this last quarter proved very difficult for us and for him.  A lot of things happened at once, and his focus really suffered, which caused a lot of heated words and unhappy nights in our house.  However, despite all the challenges, Jamie still managed to end the year with a whole bunch of awards at the honors assembly.

Yeah, I’m pretty proud of that smart cookie that I gave birth to. 😉  (He takes after his mom, you know…)

No rest for the wicked, though.  The next day, we were up at 5am on a Saturday to be there by 6:30 (okay, a little after 6:30).  He had an English muffin with peanut butter and some milk to fortify him, and we made it to the starting point in time for a quick pre-race picture.

We had debated most of the week what kind of goal pace he’d shoot for.    I knew he was capable of finishing in less than 65-minutes, since he’d done so twice last year (Kona and Chocolate), but the truth is that he’s not in nearly as good a shape as he was last year. 🙁  Poor kid hasn’t hit his growth spurt yet, but he likes to eat as though he has. 😛  Truthfully, it was a long winter for all of us, Jamie included, and despite all the hockey, he struggled with staying healthy.  Considering where my weight is right now…I can’t exactly fault him. 😉  But the weight as well as all the school work and hockey piled on top had really taken its toll; he hasn’t had much opportunity to run since last year, and his finish at the St. Patrick’s Day race in March really showed it (over 75 minutes). Granted, that had been during “hockey hell weekend” (three tryouts in two days, plus a 10k!), so I’d encouraged him to go slow, but I worried about his pace for this race.  Sixty-five minutes didn’t seem likely, but we talked about it, and he felt like he wanted to try for it, so we settled on running with the 65-minute pacer.

In previous races, I gave him a lot of encouragement and “attaboys” as he ran, especially in the last half-mile toward the finish.  As a runner, I know that it’s not always well-received when you’re struggling to finish (ask me how I felt when my friends Katie and Jess greeted me at mile 20 of my marathon 😉 ), and I know this is especially true for Jamie.  So, for this race, I promised him I would be quiet at the end and not keep giving me encouragement and attaboys

On race morning lined up with our friend Lorenda, who did such a great job pacing us to a surprising sub-1:04 last year.  Jamie actually hung with her and her pacing compatriot for almost 2 1/2 miles, but the hills, especially the big one at the beginning, wore him out pretty quickly.  He was breathing hard within the first mile, and as we neared the second mile marker, he was telling me he was tired and needed a break.  I wanted him to wait until the first water station, which I thought was right at mile 2, but it turned out I was wrong. 🙁  It was just past the 2.5 mark when we finally got to it, and he was really tired.  I let him drink and walk, and I didn’t ask him to begin running again when the pacers did.  Eventually, I coaxed him into starting again, but he told me he was tired.  There was another hill, and that was too much for him.  Even though it was less than 1/2 a mile after the last break, he surprised me by walking again.  I could tell he needed it, so I allowed him to walk and catch his breath a moment.  A nice woman, probably around my age, was running by at that point, and she called as she jogged by, “You’re doing a great job!  Keep it up!”  I’ve found that Jamie usually gets a spurt of energy when strangers give him encouragement, but this time, he seemed less enthused.  After a few moments, I encouraged him to start moving again, and although I knew he didn’t want to, he did it anyway…probably because his mom told him to. 😉

He stopped again about half a mile later, and it was at this point I knew this race was not going to go as planned.  🙁  I let him walk just a bit and gave him some more water, and then I encouraged him to run again, with the goal to not stop again until the second water station.  It was a tough sell, but he started up again and despite the unfortunately-placed inclines, he somehow made it through to the second water station just past mile 4.  He walked and had water, but it was even harder this time to convince him to run again.  “I’m really tired,” he told me dolefully.   “You’re more than halfway done, kiddo,” I answered.  “You can do this.  We’ll just go slower.”

After another slight incline (they’re never slight when you’re tired!), he stopped again just as we turned off a main road.  I gave him a little tough love and told him he could do it and he could hold out until mile 5, and once more he somehow found the energy.  As we approached the mile 5 water station, I told him he could stop and take the water, but I was going to keep going.   He slowed, took water, and then somehow managed to catch back up.  I was so proud of him.

But then, about 2/10ths of a mile later, he stopped in his tracks.  “I can’t do it!” he cried.  He looked miserable and exhausted, and I knew exactly what was going through his head.  I’d been there for my marathon in the last few miles.  And because I’d been there, I knew that he would hate himself if he quit now.  So I pulled out my meanest “coach-Mom” voice.

“You are less than 3/4 of a mile from the finish. You are not quitting, because I know you, and I know you’re not a quitter.”

“But I’m so tired!” He was nearly sobbing by this time.

“I know, but you’re almost there.  We’ll go slow, I promise.”

And somehow, some way, he found the strength to start running again.  Thankfully, it was (literally) all downhill from there.  Not a steep downhill, but certainly better than uphill!

I said nothing to him as we ran for another half a mile, intent to keep my promise of being quiet.  But then, just as we were rounding the final corner toward the last 100 yard stretch, I could see him lagging, and I wanted so badly for him to catch up to me.  I began to encourage him, telling him he was almost done and trying to get him to push it just a little bit more to catch up to me.  He didn’t say anything, which should have been my first clue, but I couldn’t help myself, and I called back to him, “Come on, Jamie, just a little bit faster, you can catch up to me.  I know you can do it!”

He said something to me and I didn’t hear it, so I repeated, “Come on, Jamie, you can do it!”  And then he said something that I definitely heard.

“Shut up!!!”

No kidding.  My sweet boy, all of 12 years old, told me to shut up. 😛 Can you believe that?  Well, yes, I think we all can.  Truth be told, I’ve had more than one time when I wanted to say it to friends when I’ve run with them.  I actually kind of admired the fact that he had the balls to say it, because I never have. 😉

He looked miserable when he said it, so I just said nothing and slowed down a bit to run in stride with him.  About 10 steps later, he said, in such a tired and forlorn voice, “I’m sorry.”  I wanted to laugh.  I love that kid. 😀  I told him it was okay, and a few seconds later, we crossed the finish line together.  I knew we weren’t near his 65 minute goal, but I was pretty confident we were below 69 minutes, so I just hugged him after the finish line and told him what a great job he’d done and how proud I was that he finished and didn’t give up.  His first words post-finish were, “I’m sorry I said that.”  I just laughed and hugged him tighter and said, “Don’t worry, I understand.  Believe me, I understand!!”

We grabbed a couple of waters and then walked to the bagel tent, where he snagged his beloved asiago cheese bagel.  I thought he would want to pass out after all that effort, but he was surprisingly calm and while not cheerful, per se, he wasn’t miserable, either.  He sat on the ground and enjoyed his bagel as he recuperated.

He wasn’t exhausted, but clearly he wasn’t interested in smiling at me either. 😉   As he ate, I looked up our times, and I was thrilled to see that he’d finished in 1:08:54…not the 1:05 he was hoping for, but it was still a full 6 1/2 minutes faster than his finish at the St. Patrick’s run! When I told him his time and compared it to his last race, he perked up quite a bit.  He had assumed he’d done much worse, but I assured him he did fantastic.

While we were sitting there, I was surprised when that same lady who had encouraged him at  about mile 3 came up to him and congratulated him for finishing.  She was so nice, and she seemed genuinely happy for Jamie and his accomplishment.  He was pretty humble (and tired!), so he didn’t say much, but she and I talked for several minutes.  Her name was Tiffany–we joked about how Stephanie and Tiffany were so similar that we’d be sure to remember each other’s names. 😉  Turns out, she’s actually a health and wellness coach at an insurance company, which seemed perfectly appropriate for her. 🙂  I asked her if she would mind if I got a picture of her with Jamie, and she was happy to oblige.

She then mentioned she was happy to have found someone to get a picture with; she’d come to the race on her own, and so she didn’t know anyone.  At that point, I made sure to tell her about my blog, and I encouraged her to go look for it so she could see her picture.  Of course, we didn’t have anything to write on, so I made sure to say the name of my blog about 5 times, hoping she’d remember it.  So Tiffany, I hope you eventually find my blog!!

After that, we went and got some of the free ice cream they were giving out.  Oh, was it good!

When we were well-rested, we took a walk toward the car, and a nice (tall!) man took a photo of us by a lovely creek, and then I got a few more shots as well.

The race ended at a park next to a historic village, which you know I was all about.  😉  Jamie walked around a little bit, and then we headed to the car.  As we walked, I mentioned that my next 10k was going to be the Scrumpy Skedaddle in October (the day after my birthday!).  He asked me about it, and I mentioned it was part of the same racing series that the High Tail to Ale was in.  Well, if you’ve read my blog at all, you know my son Jamie is all about the medals, and that one had a very cool medal, in the shape of a bottle cap, which also doubles as a bottle opener.  When Jamie learned they had a 10k in that series, he of course wanted to know what the medal looked like.  I pulled it up on my phone to show him, and by the time we got to the car, he was already telling me that he wanted to run that race.  Ha!  I think the kid is addicted. 😉

On the way home, I was intent to let Jamie rest, but he surprised me by being rather talkative.  More than once, he marvelled out loud about his finish time, and how much faster it was than he had expected.  I could tell he was really happy and very proud of himself.  I asked him why he was so surprised over his time, and he answered, “Because I walked a lot!”  I pointed out that he did walk quite a bit during the second half, but that he’d kept up with the 65-minute pacers for almost half the race, and that had been enough to keep him on target for a good run.  “And that,” I told him, “was why I wouldn’t let you quit.”   He nodded, and then he added, “You know, I don’t really like running when I’m running, but when you’re done, it does feel really good.”  😀

When we got home, I took our annual “Kona Medal Run” photo (this year’s medal, sadly, was not nearly as cool as last year’s).  As we discussed the medal, I mentioned the Scrumpy Skedaddle.  I asked him if he was serious about doing it, and he said he was–he definitely wanted that medal!  I then asked him if he would be willing to spend the summer training so that he could shoot for that 65-minute finish, and he readily agreed.  🙂

Despite the fact that it was hard for me to be so tough on him at the end, and despite the fact that I had to hear my sweet son shout at me to “shut up” (which we still joke about every day, lol!), I feel really good about this race.  When it was over, Jamie felt great, and the accolades he got from friends and family (and his hockey coach!) have done wonders for his confidence.  I remember being 12 years old, and I know it’s a rough time for most kids.  It makes me so happy that Jamie has this very positive outlet that gives him such a boost of self-confidence at such a potentially challenging time in his life, and it makes me even happier that we can do it together. 🙂

Thanks so much for reading!!