Long-Winded Comments On Saturday's Fun Run and 10k

So, I've been meaning to write something about last Saturday--what it FELT like to run the10K, and what it MEANT to me--but I've had a hard time focusing on writing this week, preoccupied with thoughts of running when I'm at work, and too lazy to write when I'm at home...but I need to finally do this so here goes:

The kids appear to have run their race with confidence, enthusiasm and optimism, with no excess baggage of delusions or expectations or self-doubt or fear. 
They got excited.  They ran.  They got tired.  They ran some more.  They revelled in their family cheering for them. They reached the finish line.  They sucked wind, ate bananas and felt proud. 
I'm sure they thought a lot more interesting things than that, and I'm sure my two pre-teens experienced an array of anxieties, but the end result appears to be a combination of pure joy and pride in the accomplishment.  How cool is that?  I'm going to try to keep that in mind for my own running experiences.

If I am glad that I did it and proud of my accomplishment then I'll know I'm doing something right.

And guess what? that is exactly how I felt on Saturday. 

After all the fuss of leaving work early and packing up and going out to Hancock and having dinner with Mum and Dad and waking up early and feeling nervous and driving to the island and watching the fun run and the last-minute rush to the starting line, I thought the 10k went pretty well.  It was work.  I walked several sections. I'm still figuring out the best things to wear, and what to carry with me, and how to work my mp3 player and how to handle hills, but even with all that I finished 38 seconds under my estimated time.  I was not fast, but I was not entirely unathletic, and that right there is a pretty darn big deal for me. 

The first part of the course was an out-and-back on Rte 3 (in Bar Harbor).  Everyone was really friendly. We ran past Jackson Lab and some people had signs that said Run, Mice, Run! which amused me enough that I said "squeak, squeak!" as I passed them.  But I didn't really love being on the main road with traffic and pavement, and the long slow uphill on the way back was not fun.  And I kept wondering how far I'd gone. Someone told me my split (12:31) at mile one (as promised) but we had NO additional mile markers (which we'd also been promised) and the water station which was advertised as being at the halfway point was actually on Park Street, where the Y is, and more like 3.5 miles in. It made sense, though, since it was convenient for the volunteers and friends & family.  I could hear the kids ringing the cow bells from a ways off, so I knew they had spotted me.  Mum shoved some dried cherries and dark chocolate covered almonds in a paper cup at me (as requested) while I re-filled my (leaky) little water bottle and tried to get moving again. As I walked past the Y, my boss called out my name which was a total surprise (it turns out he was watching his grandson's little league game right across the street).  I was thinking "oh great, he's checking up on me to see if I'm really doing all this running I've been talking about and here I am walking past him with chocolate in my teeth" but I was also pleased just to have someone say my name and "good job!", particularly someone I respect whose also a runner.

After that I felt a lot happier.  The power snack definitely helped and the scenery improved. First, there was one short, steep hill, so I switched my mp3 to a mystery song Alan had programmed in for me. I spent most of the incline not sure what it was, but when I hit the chorus and figured it out it made me laugh so I listened to it a couple more times. The song was "Ladylike" by Storm from the TV show Rockstar. It's a kick-a$$ hard rock ditty about female empowerment, that demands to know "what the f*** is ladylike?" I'm not usually into foul-mouthed lyrics but this song rocks and made me feel tough [thanks, hon!].  The beautiful second half loop continued past a pretty cemetery and a golf course, then a stretch of the park loop road and then onto the appropriately named Green Meadow Rd.  I switched to nice calm Alison Krauss and was doing great until I accidentally pushed a button that made the music stop and I lost some time while I 1. figured out that I was inadvertently recording myself, 2. made it stop, 3. listened to it (feet pounding, lungs heaving, my voice saying "wait, what? oh...what?!? no, stop!"), 4. deleted it and 5. got back to a screen I recognized, at which point I realized I'd slowed to a ploddingly slow walk.  I also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to calculate how many miles I'd run and how far off my pace I was, but at least I kept running while I was doing that.  I kept adding the same numbers and coming up with different results.  By the time I hit mile five I was thoroughly convinced that I was 9 minutes behind my estimate.  But I didn't really care because I was still moving and getting closer to the finish and it was just so nice out there.  I was pretty much alone except for the volunteers and the man I passed walking his dog.  As I got back into town I emptied my water bottle and stowed it in my belt, took off my headphones and stashed my mp3.  Once I turned the last corner back onto Park Street (the name really helped me feel like I was coming home) I stretched my legs and pumped my arms and picked up some speed for a strong finish.  I felt like I was cruising, but the video Jamie took looks, sadly, much more stately than that. I had good posture though, and looked alive and even happy.  Alan apparently started his kick about a block too soon but realized it too late to back off, so he was looking a bit winded by the end.  Still, he did great: he improved on his previous training time, and beat me by 9 minutes. 

Almost immediately after the race, we were all in planning mode for September.  Logistically, this was the perfect dry run for the Half Marathon, partly for us, but mostly for Mum and Dad who are dealing with the kids and trying to find places to cheer us on throughout the course. We drove some of the route, and stopped to check out the Duck Brook bridge which is a water stop and our entrance onto the carriage roads.  It was really good to be talking about it "onsite" instead of theoretically.

I'm not ready to run the Half yet, but I do feel like I can be ready for it in September.  At least, most of the time, I feel that way.  I really need to work on getting regular cross-training into my regimen....

That's plenty blogging for now!