This time I was ready for this race. I had enjoyed last year's race and was looking forward to seeing what some more consistent strength work was doing. Last year I still felt speedy and strong. This year, I've struggled with finding my groove and have lost speed and strength. After readjusting my training (thanks Coach Lesley), I was curious how this race would go.
Coach Lesley signed up for this race herself. I picked her up and we carpooled down to the start. After finally hitting some summer weather, this day was rainy! It hadn't been rainy at my house but it was farther south and I was a bit dismayed by this. I'd not brought a hat. Oh well, at least it was a warm rain. We did a warm-up and seeded ourselves into the very crowded and confusing start. This year, they tried a wave start but without warning everyone of this before hand, well, people were confused.
And we were off. It was pretty crowded. I knew I was going faster than I wanted (I'd started in the first group but towards the back) but I wasn't too concerned. We had a tailwind and it is flat here. After about a quarter mile, I was starting to look at my garmin for pace information and was surprised to see I'd not started it correctly. Oh well. I started it and saw that yes I was fast but was settling into a good pace and I was not concerned. They had kilometer markings so I started hitting those for reference. But now I wish I'd left the mile markers as is as I think the kilometer marks were a bit off.
Soon we were climbing towards the Fremont bridge. I'd been pretty quick for the first section (7:40) and expected to slow a bit here but didn't. I very gradually passed people here and there and got passed occasionally as all. At the 5k mark I thought that a 10k seemed excessively far and it would be really nice to be done. This race is about as flat as you get here but that means you still get some hills that frighten a lot of runners in the rest of the country. The first one wasn't too bad by the University Bridge. I just tried to power up it as i knew I'd like the downhill to the bridge. Last year some of the steep downhill sections bothered me and felt tough. This year I could use them better.
Last wicked hill and I can't say I was fast up it but I didn't completely bog down. I did feel stronger. There were not too many runners around me at this point. i could see a guy ahead and assumed I'd have a few people behind. I just tried to stay in contact with this guy ahead and not let him pull away. This worked and then at about mile 5, I realized my shoe was coming loose and was untied. Dangit! I've never had this happen in a race before. It got looser and looser and then I could feel the ends slapping at my other leg. I debated stopping to tie it but knew I'd not get started running well again.
the challenge then became trying not to let the loose shoe change my running gait. And it was hard! I really wanted to favor that leg and not let the laces whip me. I was also afraid of stepping on them but was pretty certain that was impossible at the pace I was going. I do fear that I lost time here. I was also tiring. as we came to the finish, I got passed by three women (grrr..they were all younger though) and was shocked to see the time on the clock as 47:XX. My goal was to beat the June 10k time of 49:2X and last year's 49:1X and try and come in under 49.
Done! Coach Lesley herself had run this race and was at the finished. She laughed with me about the silly shoe lace issue. Oh well. Like last year the finish area was very crowded. The new South Lake Union Park should be finished this year and that will alleviate this problem. I waited around for results to be posted and found another friend who'd raced and has gotten so fast. I'm so happy for her as things have turned around after some injury frustrations. We waited and waited and they tried to announce overall winners but then realized there were some serious scoring issues.
I had some pancakes with whipped cream and berries provided by a Portage Bay Cafe, a sponsor. They were delicious and since I normally have pancakes after weekend runs, i was in heaven. I waited some more and gave up.
47? Maybe? But really? I know I'd run well and hard and felt stronger and felt great about that. Finally results were posted the next day. chip time was listed as 48:52 and I was third master female overall.
Hahaha! After some hints of timing and scoring issues, I contacted the timing company and confirmed that clock time at the finish was off by a minute (how?) and posted race results were correct. Not under 48 but solidly under 49 and 30 seconds faster than the 10k in May. Things are starting to go the way I want and I'm happy about that.
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