Monthly Archives: March 2011

I started running last fall. It was something I just decided to do one day, out of the blue. To be honest, after writing about my characters who were runners I think part of me wanted to do it too. And it was hard and I didn’t really like it much and for a while I would kind of run for about a quarter mile and then just walk the rest of whatever distance I had planned for the day.

But then I decided I wanted run a marathon and I told people and they were all, “that’s hard and scary sounding” and I was like “yeah but think how cool it will be afterwards” and then those 26.2 stickers taunted me everywhere I went. Everywhere. Especially if I had skipped running that day.

So I decided to get serious about the running thing. I started pushing myself to do intervals. And it was hard and not much fun, but it worked. I had to learn a lot about my body and eating and hydration and I’m still trying to figure it all out. It’s a trial and error process. Like the time I ran really hard and then got in the car for a 2 hour drive to the ski resort and spent all day on my feet and woke up the next day in a ridiculous amount of pain. That was really awful.

Anyway, with Rugged Maniac looming ahead of me I decided I wanted to run a regular 5k before I took on one with obstacles. So my roommate and I picked the Scope it Out 5k because it just worked well timing wise.

I’ll be honest – I wimped out when it came to training. My plan was to run at least 5 days a week – but sometimes I only ran once. I had this idea in my head that I needed to be all serious and hardcore and go super hard all the time. For a while I was even doing crazy things with food, trying to find that perfect balance of mostly protein and just enough carbs to support my training. So when I didn’t end up sticking my training plan I felt seriously guilty.

I mentioned previously that I had kind of forgotten about this race. Well, once I officially registered I was all in. My roommate and I decorated t-shirts to wear (cell phone picture!):

And when race day rolled around I was terrified. My alarm went off and the anxiety almost killed me. I’m typically an anxious person, but I really thought I would pass out. Not gonna lie – I almost hoped I would. That would have been the only way to get out of it at that point! It was the big day. I had a tiny swallow of milk and a protein bar before we left the apartment.

Not even 30 minutes later I was hungry – just as I feared. When we got to the race start there were bananas and oranges, but by then I was too nervous to eat anything and I knew putting something in my stomach right before I ran was a bad idea.

Part of the fun of race day was metro-ing into DC. As soon as we got on the metro we could identify other runners. Of course, this is one of the fun things about anything major you do in DC – picking out the other people on the metro who are going where you’re going. On this day it was easy to spot fellow runners – our D-tags and bibs pretty much gave us away.

We got to Freedom Plaza where the race started and wandered around for a little bit trying to stay warm. It was somewhere in the 40s, and the wind was COLD. We decided to drop our fleeces at the bag check before the race, but we waited till the last minute to do that because that wind was not nice.

As soon as we dropped the bag we started to walk toward the starting line. By then my nerves were quieting down and I was starting to get excited. I put my headphones on, gave my roommate a high five (I think that actually happened? It’s kind of out of character for me so maybe I just made that up) and tried to listen to the announcer. It was impossible to hear him in that crowd of 3000 people!

Finally the race started. It took a little while for us to even get close to the starting line, so I waited until we were near it to start my music. And then I was glad I had because then I was ready! This was my big moment!

My roommate and I separated almost immediately – she’s a faster runner than me, so we had already agreed on a spot to meet afterwards. I just stuck to my slow, steady pace. It was really awesome to be running on Pennysylvania Avenue, the U.S. Capitol looming in front of me! And I had a playlist full of really great, upbeat music to keep me going.

The night before the race my roommate and I had looked up the course map – or at least what we thought it would be. We knew we started at Freedom Plaza and that the race would go to the Capitol and back so we kind of guessed at where the turn around point would be. Well, as I was running I kept my eye on that Capitol building assuming we were turning around near the front of it.

Then the first song ended and I realized I was pretty darn close to the Capitol. And while I wanted to believe I was doing awesome things, I knew I wasn’t making miracles happen. So I checked my phone to see how far I’d run – just under a half mile. So much for guessing our route!

Checking my mileage was definitely a bad call – after that it got really hard. And that’s how I know running is such a mental sport. The race had been easy that entire time I was thinking I was almost to the halfway point. Something about knowing I wasn’t there yet just really hit me hard.

But I kept slugging along. There were tons of cops out to maintain the barricades and they were cheering us on, as were a bunch of race volunteers with noisemakers. Some were definitely more enthusiastic than others, but they were all smiles.

And then I saw them – three guys already on their way back! I hadn’t even finished my first mile yet!! The. crowd. went. WILD.  Seriously – these guys ended up finishing the entire 3.1 miles in about 15 minutes. It was nuts, but definitely gave me that burst of excitement I needed to push a little harder.

The first mile was really over before I even knew it. It seemed so easy! I just knew I’d be turning around soon and then it would all be over.

Wrong again.

Mile two was when I totally faltered. We’d been running in a straight line for most of the first mile, but after that it was hard to tell where the course went. It was enough to shake me and I had to walk. But then it seemed like I was walking forever! I didn’t want to look at my distance, or my time – I was afraid it would be horrible. I tried to walk fast but kept finding myself casually strolling. UGH!

Then we turned the corner and hit the water station. Halfway! Okay. I got a little bit of a kick out of drinking my cup of water and then tossing it on the ground. There weren’t any trash cans around or I would have done the right thing. Instead I felt like a rebel, and a little bit bad for the people who would have to clean up after everyone who had done the same thing before me.

When I came out of the water station area there were more volunteers with noise makers. One of them was shouting what I assumed were words of encouragement, but I have no idea what she was really saying. I decided it was something along the lines of “suck it up and start running again” so I did exactly that. I knew we were headed back now and I wanted to be done!

Finishing mile 2 was still hard. It seemed to stretch out forever, even though I’d just come from there! I finally reached the mile marker and soon after that reached the “home stretch” – the straight part of the course.

I kept my pace pretty even for that last mile, but it got really hard toward the end. The last .25 mile felt like death. I pushed myself for every step I took, but I kept reminding myself that I didn’t want to give up at the very end. I told myself I wanted to look back on my first race and feel like I had done my best.

So I pushed and pushed. I hit the mile 3 sign and saw the runners who’d already finished and were waiting for their friends to finish. They were watching, but definitely not cheering on the other racers. It was kind of disheartening when I was working so hard to get that last 1/10 of a mile done, but the finish line was right. there.

I can’t tell you how much of a relief it was to stop once I crossed that line. I could barely breathe and really wanted to start crying – but then I heard the announcer say “Kate Sullivan, welcome to the finish line.”

Then my eyes really did get all teary – but they were fierce, happy tears cause then I started smiling. I had done it – and I had done my best.

I got a powerade and found my roommate. By then I could breathe like a normal person and I was starting to feel really good. I made sure to get a picture while I was all blissed out post-race:

I don’t have splits or anything fancy like that to share with you, but my official “tag time” was 46:28. My goal was 45 minutes, and I’m really proud of myself for being so close to that!  I’d have loved to pull out something really stinkin impressive, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?

It wasn’t long after I finished the race before I was bouncing around, full of energy. And about 30 minutes later I was STARVING! I’d been hungry when I started the race, but had forgotten all about that while I was running. By the time we got off the metro I felt like throwing up because I was so hungry.

But I was still in an awesome mood and I hurried home to change so I could get to my friend’s birthday brunch. I knew she and some of my other friends were all waiting to hear all about the race so I quickly changed into some non-sweaty clothes and hurried to her house. And wouldn’t you know? They all applauded when I walked into the dining room. That was what I’d been missing at the finish line!

Some lessons learned:

Take your own cheering section. I’d read about this on other blogs and decided I didn’t really want to ask people to get up for a 9am race in DC on a Sunday morning. Next time I do a local race I’ll be sucking it up and begging for spectators. It would have made a world of difference to have some cheerleaders to bring me in that last stretch.

Figure out the food. I usually trained in the afternoon and fuel was never an issue, but this race was in the morning so I didn’t really know how to eat before I ran. I didn’t want something huge that would be sitting around causing trouble but I was right when I guessed that meager protein bar wouldn’t stick around long enough.

Give yourself enough credit. Earlier today I was trying to make a metaphor comparing my race and something else and I realized I was totally selling myself short about this race. One year ago I would never have even wanted to run a 5k, let alone gotten out there and tried. Who knows what I’ll be doing a year from now? This is a major accomplishment for me and I have every right to be proud of it and feel good about myself for doing it. I’m SO glad I did it and I loved the entire experience, even though it was hard. In the end it was all completely worth it.

So what’s next?  I’m off to the Rugged Maniac in Richmond, VA on May 14! I’ll be one of the girls in the ninja turtle costumes (kidding. but only a little). And so I’ll be pushing ahead with my training but focusing on my whole body this time to get totally ripped so I can handle those barriers and cargo nets and other fun obstacles that I’ll be facing. Can’t. Wait.

Okay, your turn! What are you super proud of recently?