A Race in the Books

(First race after 18 months)

                After 18 months to the day I finally did my first race. Saturday I toed the line for a track 5km at the West Seattle Stadium and I came away with a very positive experience. In the 18 months I have been gone from racing, I have dealt with an MCL tear, had a baby, and then had knee surgery. It was great to finally be able to compete again. When enough time goes by without racing, or really doing workouts for that matter, it suddenly becomes very easy and comfortable to not race. If the time period is short enough, having to sit on the sidelines can make you hungry and eager to get back out into the racing world but for me the time away and changes in my life made it really easy to continue doing what I was doing, not racing.

                When I saw our Club was hosting a track meet I decided a week before the event that I would do it. Why not? It didn’t matter if I was ready or not, whether I felt like I could run “fast,” or anything. No excuses. It was time to just put myself out there and have some fun! Plus I wanted to see what it would be like trying to get a baby and myself ready and to the starting line on time. This race would serve as a test run of sorts in my “new Mother/athlete” role.

(Entertaining Lilyana before I warm up)

                Lilyana woke around 6:30am. As I nursed and rocked her I listened to the rain pouring down. It was raining extremely hard, a downpour, and I could hear the wind blowing, yet I was undeterred and started thinking about what rain gear to wear. After Lily finished eating I laid back down for another 45 minutes until we were both up again. Once she was up I made her breakfast and realized I needed to eat soon as well! I ate my breakfast, a little later than I would have liked but managed to get her and I fed by 8:45am. The start of my race was 10:30am. Levi helped get her ready while I got myself ready. We were out the door by 9:00 and to the race just around 9:15am. Since it was a low key event it was really easy to check in and get my number but first things first, I had to nurse the baby. Once she was taken care of I was able to leave her with Levi and go about my warm up. I was much more distracted on my warm up as I kept running into friends and chatting. I spotted some of my teammates and headed out with them.

                I could tell my food wasn’t completely digested but lucky for me I have been known to have an “iron gut” when it comes to eating food and running.  I did a couple strides and felt lactic in my legs already so I decided to stop doing them and rest. The sun came out and I was feeling good. I saw my brother and sister-in-law and we chatted. Everything was very stress free. I gave Lily a good luck squeeze and walked to the line.

(And we're off!)

                I knew some of the women in the race would be going for a faster time than I expected to run but several expressed that they would be starting at a pace I wanted to do. I figured I should be able to run 6:00 pace (18:45 5km) and a few girls said they were going to go out in 1:28. I might be able to go to the back of the pack and get some help through the windy laps. I was in a pack of about 6 girls for the first 2 laps. Having people running around me felt strange. I would definitely have to get used to this. After two laps they started running a little faster. Not wanting to blow up I backed off which left me in no man’s land.

(Cruising along in "no man's land")

There were 6 girls about 30 or so meters ahead of me. I just stayed focused and relaxed and ran my race. With 6 laps to go I go heartburn. I deal with a condition called Achalasia and have gotten these bouts of what I call heartburn on my runs but never in a race. I just told myself it would be good practice for me in case it happens in a big race. Luckily I was able ignore it and run fine. With two laps to go I noticed the front pack had broken up and some of the girls were coming back to me. I didn’t trust my finishing strength so did not try to close the gap. I saw the clock with one lap to go and figured I could break 18 so long as I could close in 90 seconds. I ended up running an 80 on my last lap and came through the line in 17:51.

(You can see my poor atrophied leg from my surgery. Lilyana cheers me on in the background with her Aunt and Uncle.)

                Surprisingly I felt good! It was a great start for me and I was really pleased with my time and how I felt doing it. I definitely have room to improve but it was very fun for me to race again. Having the baby has changed my perspective on racing and life in general. I am not so “me” focused and I think that can help keep nerves at bay and keep things in perspective. As I raced I would peak over and see Lilyana watching me and it made me feel good. Things don’t have to go perfect in the warm up, I can be flexible with what and when I eat, how much sleep I get, and I can still run well and have fun doing it. Because when I get right down to it running is a game and should be enjoyable. The day it stops being fun for me is the day I will hang up my racing shoes. But right now after my first race back all I can say is game on!

(Racing the 5km)

                 

(Race on friends. Race on!)