My first race: A cautionary tale in 3.1 miles

1675 Views 42 Replies 42 Participants Last post by JJJessee, Sep 1, 2007

praecipua

Discussion Starter · Aug 25, 2007

This, my friends, is a cautionary tale to all first time runners. Tell this story at your local running store, share it with your friends who think that anyone can run 3.1 miles, learn from it. Pre-race I began c25k on May 21, 2007 and finished at the end of July. I figured that 5 additional weeks of OHR would be sufficient to prepare me for my first 5k: Run Around the Square in Regent Square, Pittsburgh, PA, August 25, 2007. In fact, today I was supposed to run 38 minutes to complete week 5 of OHR. My time goal: 45 minutes. My secret time goal: 40 minutes. I spoke to a friend of mine several weeks ago who ran cross country in high school and has been running ever since. He expressed concern that I picked this particular race as my first because of all the hills (Mile 2 is entirely uphill, as are some of Miles 1 and 3). I was aggrieved that he would doubt my training, stamina, determination. I WAS going to run this race. So I set the following goals: 1. Finish 2. Run the whole race 3. Finish under 45 minutes A fourth joke goal was not to die. This turned out not be such a joke after all. My friend agreed to pick my up at 7:45 and drive me to the race (with a 9:00 start). I got my chip and walked toward the start. It was a blue sky, fluffy cloud kind of day, but walking those 7 blocks got a good sweat going, and I was very aware of how hot it was. My friend and I walked around to find a good place for her to set up and take pictures, and then I got ready to race. I thought about using the port-a-potties, but the line was long, and I hold the prize for longest held pee, so I skipped it. My friends, lesson #1: Pee before the race. We lined up; I was toward the front 1/4 of racers. There was no mat so the timing started when the gun went off. I was about 10 seconds behind the start. Mile 1 Most of the first mile was on the red brick streets of Regent Square. It started downhill and didn’t really go uphill until we entered the park toward the end of the mile. As always, I started too fast. Still, everyone, their brother, and their 10 year old kid passed me. I felt good, but I tried to put on the brakes, as my longest run prior to today was 2.75 miles, and I knew I had a long way to go. Wide shaded streets, nice shaded trail. At every corner, musicians had set up and were playing for the runners along the way. People lined the streets cheering. My friend almost missed me and got a picture from behind. Mile 1 felt fabulous. . .until I finished it. There was a man at the mile marker with a stop watch yelling out the times. “One mile done; 10:35.” 10:35!!! I looked at my watch and sure enough, my watch said 10:23. At this point my friends, I knew I was in serious trouble. Mile 2 This mile began on a hill and ended on a hill, with mostly hill in between. Some of you may know that I have a tendency to charge hills. Lesson #2: Don’t charge hills We left the trail and went back on the streets, running on a main road that is a weekend detour due to construction in the area. I started talking to myself at this point, encouraging myself, saying that I was half-way done. The people on the detour, who probably weren’t that excited to have one lane of their detoured road closed for a race, honked happily at us as we ran past. People were still passing me; the only people that I passed were those who stopped to walk the hills (and they invariably passed me when they started running again). Finally, we entered the park again (on another hill). Now we were in MY territory. I walk and run on this trail all the time – but in the opposite direction. More on that in a minute. At the end of mile 2 I was breathing very heavily, my legs didn’t want to seem to keep moving, and then, my award-winning bladder failed me. Despite not drinking very much (more on THAT later), I peed my running skirt. Yes, you read that correctly, I pissed all over myself. I had absolutely no ability to stop it. So, with 1.1 miles to go, I was faced with a decision: do I stop or do I run with pee dripping down my leg. I decided to keep running. I mean, stopping would have just meant getting done even later. So, I sprayed water on my crotch to dilute the urine and pushed on. Mile 3 Now, as I said, I run this trail a lot. There are a lot of twists and turns, and it’s mostly uphill. At this point, I was breathing very heavily, my legs didn’t want to keep moving forward, and I just wanted to be done. I should have known, given how long each of the previous two miles had been, that this mile was not going to be magically shorter than those were. Somehow, though, I kept thinking that the downhill would start just around the next turn. Of course, around the next turn was just another incline. Finally, I was SURE that the downhill was just around the next turn, and I told myself that. When I made the bend and saw yet another incline, I just couldn’t do it. I stopped running and walked up it. It wasn’t very far, but Goal #2 was shot. Trying not to beat myself up, I started running again, and finally the downhill started. It was all I could do to let gravity work. This hill, however, is loooooooong, and it seemed to go on forever. I was almost home, so what did I do? I started running faster. Lesson #3: Don’t start the kick too early There was no Mile 3 marker (or if there was, I didn’t see it), so I had no idea how much further I had. I could hear the crowd at the finish line, but I couldn’t see it. There was a man and his two kids who kept passing me, then they stopped to walk, then they passed me, then they stopped to walk. I was really hoping I could beat them, but I was at the end of my endurance. Finally, cursing myself for running too fast, too early, I saw the finish, and when I looked at the clock, I cursed myself again: 36:45. Remember this is more than 3 minutes faster than my secret time goal. So what did I do? I sped up so I could come in under 37:00. Final chip time: 36:54. Post-race Having started 10-15 seconds after the gun, the real time was probably something closer to 36:40. Why don’t I know? Well, I was so exhausted, and I was breathing so hard, that I couldn’t remember if I stopped my watch or not. Apparently I had, but then I accidentally restarted it, and couldn’t turn it off again. Thus, I don’t have an accurate watch time. I also don’t know if I beat the family or they beat me because I was so focused on the clock that I had no idea who was around me. They took off my chip, handed me a carnation, and then it started to go downhill. I started weaving and tipping, as if I was going to fall over. Though I know I needed to keep moving, or at least, keep vertical, I was afraid I was going to fall down. I couldn’t catch my breath, and I knew that my face was very red. Finally, I sat down. A race volunteer had started walking with me at some point with a fresh bottle of water, and she started pouring the water on me. Then, feeling sick, I laid down. I still couldn’t catch my breath. Then the nausea started. Finally, I sat up and puked up all the water that I had consumed (that I didn’t pee out). The medics were called. The dude who showed up was really cocky, and I was so mad at myself for not slowing down when I KNEW I was going too fast (honestly, I didn’t know how), I just couldn’t calm down. I felt all kinds of judgment coming from him, asking me if I was diabetic (you sure are fat), if I had trained (you sure are fat), asking if I had eaten this morning (you sure are fat). Granted, I was probably projecting, but I was getting so mad that I couldn’t calm down and regulate my breathing, so every time he said “tough it out” or “calm down”, I wanted to punch him. Finally, he left, I started crying, and then, after realizing how pathetic I looked, crying and sitting in my own urine, I calmed down. I was probably on the ground for about an hour, and then my friend and I decided to walk back to her car. I was going to walk home (about 1.5 miles) because I didn’t want to sit in pee in her car, but as soon as I stood up, my calves reminded me that I didn’t stretch after the race. Lesson #4: Stretch after a race I’ve been home for a while now, having accepted the ride from my friend. I’m freshly showered, sitting in my underwear in the AC, and I’m getting a little more perspective on the race (though my calves still protest every time I get up to get something from another room). I’ve already told a friend the edited version (sans pee) of the events, and she thinks it was a complete success. I FINISHED A 5K. And I learned many lessons along the way. So to recap my goals: 1. Finish – check 2. Run the whole thing – I’ll get ‘em next time 3. Finish under 45 minutes – and then some 4. Don’t die – Not today Other stats: 40/51 in my age group 709/866 total And so, my friends, learn from my mistakes. I have learned from them, and so I would appreciate it if you would keep the lecturing to a minimum, preferably to zero. I know I should have slowed down. I know I should have hydrated more. I know it would not have killed me to walk more. I know I did not respect Mother Nature. I know that I’ll do better next time. Maybe not faster, but definitely smarter. The only question remains, do I run my scheduled 30 minutes on Monday? (I’m still supposed to run one more minute today to stay on schedule for OHR, but I think I’ll just round up.) I’m just crazy enough to do it, but only if my body agrees.

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