Friendsgiving 10K

This was a tough one. Mentally more than physically. Let's back up.

I was registered for the half marathon. Training was going awesome! I was ready for this race a while ago. And then Meniere's Disease had other plans for my life. I was sidelined from running for THREE weeks. This is not ideal when you're on a roll building up your mileage to 13.1 miles. I ran the Castaway Cay 5K in the Bahamas and my body felt great, but it was also a 5K that didn't even clock in at 3 miles. And then I got sick. My body was working against me. 

So I have spent way too much time thinking. Last year I had to drop from 13.1 down to 6.2 because my brain was leaking and causing me an indescribable amount of pain. I was ready to get back to regular running of half marathons, and then this latest long spell of Meniere's issues happened. At this point I am just not sure where to go. I am thinking I won't register for anything too far in advance anymore because what if my body does this again. I absolutely cannot control when a Meniere's attack will happen and how long or severe it will be. Races cost a lot of money, so if I keep signing up and then can't run I'm just throwing my money away. I'm frugal, believe it or not, so I don't like to do that. 

That brings us to today's race. I knew I could do the 13.1 miles but it may not be as enjoyable since I had over a month without a long run. The weather prior to this kept making it look like we were going to have another big storm. Yeah, I noticed none of that. But if it was going to be bad road conditions I didn't want to risk driving an hour north into bad weather just to run a race. I had to make some decisions. It has been agonizing. I'm a runner. I run half marathons. I don't want to have to predict the future and know if I will or won't be able due to some annoying as "disease". 

I waited until yesterday to make my decision and sent a text to the race director. I would be racing, but decided to drop to the 10K distance. I knew that would be enjoyable, very doable, but not just easy peasy like a 5K. I could push myself or go slow. I didn't care. I just needed to race. But dropping distances meant I gave up a finisher medal. I also wanted to race because I paid extra to get the race shirt. No race means money gone for a long race AND the shirt. Frugal me didn't like that!

This morning my alarm went off, I skipped a shower, and got my race clothes on. I didn't want to race with wet hair. That sounded miserable! The race at the start and finish ... 27 degrees. My last race was 79 degrees. Oh my gosh, this might kill me! My drive to Springfield was very nice with hardly any cars on the road that early in the morning. I found the race area and braved the elements to collect my shirt and bib. Immediately I was back in my car warming up, braiding my hair and getting all situated. With 20 minutes to go I walked to the start to find the potty. My plan was to test the weather, and then if needed go back and get a sweatshirt Shawn gave me that I could just wear and toss. The bathroom line was so slow I never even had a chance to get that sweatshirt!

Just after 9am we were off! There's nothing really to report on this race. I really enjoyed it. It was as flat as you can get in Oregon. We ran on a really nice path, and everything was frosted white. Parts were slippery so I did go slower than I would have, and at times - especially on the bridges over the frozen creeks - I would walk to avoid falling down. 

It was around 2 miles that I realized I hadn't seen any 10K runners on there way back yet. Hmm... if I stopped loitering for photos of the path could I possibly place in my age group? I'm on the younger side of the age group, maybe I could beat some other old ladies? From that point on until the turnaround I looked at every single runner, trying to assess their age. MAYBE I could get 3rd. 

Once I turned I was always alone. Nobody in front, nobody behind. Hmm. If I was going to place I couldn't change it now. I either will or won't. With a couple miles to go I saw a woman behind me. No more goofing off, time to just focus and finish this sucker out. With about .3 to go my knee was NOT happy. The cold weather was just brutal. My face was in pain from the cold. My toes were in various stages of frozen and thawing, and at times every footstep was painful. I wasn't going to give up. I wanted to finish and see if I pulled off a miracle.

As the finish line came in sight I saw the photographer get in place and the announcer grab his microphone. I was done!! For sure nobody will be in my finisher photos, so hopefully I don't have 1000 chins and I can actually share it. 

I went to the booth to get my results printed and my jaw dropped. I said, "Does that say I got FIRST in my group?" It did! And I was given a medal! Here I thought I would be going home empty handed, but instead of just getting the "yay you did it finisher medal" I got the "you were fast!" medal. Hot dog! 

This was all put together so nicely. Grilled cheese, bagels, bananas, water and other snacks at the end. Great on course support. I paused 3 times to enjoy my water and Gatorade. It was such a small race I felt no need to just grab and run. I wanted to just relax but still try my best. I'm very happy with how I did and I would definitely do it again .... who knows, maybe the actual half marathon next time!