Wild Racing Weekend - Part 1

I had wanted to sign up for the Fontana Days Half Marathon this past weekend but by the time I got around to it, it was sold out. :( I decided to sign up for the 5K and then do the Rock n' Roll San Diego Half on Sunday instead.

I wasn't really nervous about the double weekend because frankly, I didn't think I had it in me to run a hard 5K right now. My 5K PR is 24:59 and that felt so far off from where I am at. I'm not even really hitting those times in training except during 400s. I had kind of resigned myself to running between 27-30 minutes with it probably being closer to 30 minutes.

I started lecturing myself the night before the 5K though. I told myself to quit whining and go after my goals. I started thinking about what it would take to PR and how fast I would have to run. Instead of telling myself I couldn't do it, I told myself I could.

SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP
On Saturday morning, I woke up at 4 and got ready to go down to the race. It's only about 10 minutes from me but I needed to pick up my shirt and bib first and then board a bus to the start. I got there after 5 and made my way over to registration. I got my bib and then went over and got my shirt. And we had a bonus pin in our goody bag! My shirt and pin:

Then I hung around while I waited for the bus and drank water and ate a banana.

Someone on Instagram said they could totally tell that was my shadow. Was it the pony tails or the skirt that gave it away? ;)

I was able to get on the first bus and it got us to the start line in plenty of time for a warm up. I ran 2 miles to get my legs nice and warm. I find that my legs don't feel peppy until after they have 2 miles in them and I wanted to start out as peppy as possible. The view was pretty nice up there. I had been hoping for some June Gloom to keep things cool but it was clear as a bell. And warm.

I was nervous before the start because I wanted to do really well and I was afraid I would give up or slow down because it was too hard. So all while I warmed up, I lectured myself over and over again...You can do this. You gotta try. You know you'll be mad at yourself if you don't. You know how to hurt. Embrace the sufferfest. Suck it up buttercup!...and I was ready to run.

SUFFERFEST
Fontana's Mayor said a few words to us about the 100 years celebration and this being the 58th running of the Fontana Days Run and then she sent us off!

I should have gotten closer to the front because I had to do a lot of weaving in the beginning but it eventually thinned out and I was flying. I looked down at my Garmin and it said I was doing a 7:48 pace and thought about slowing it down but it never actually happened. Oops. So the first mile was maybe a little too fast especially with the dodging the walkers slower runners but it was fine.

The second mile, I did slow down a little and go with the planned 8:00 min mile and that one went by in 7:59. Somewhere in the 2nd mile, I think it was, I saw Richard Maya from Instagram and he gave me a huge cheer when he saw me in my Run It Fast shirt and that helped a lot. I was starting to hurt but felt I could keep up the pace for another mile. What's another mile, right?

The third mile was hard. And it hurt. I gotta tell you, I thought briefly about slowing it down and settling for 27 minutes but I knocked that thought right out of my head. I did slow a little though and that mile was 8:10.

Then I saw the finish and I ran my little heart out because I was going to finish as strong as possible! There was lots of encouragement from the crowd and I ran and ran and then I was done! 3.16 miles and 25:08 per my Garmin. 7:36 pace for the last bit! I thought I was gonna puke!

But I didn't. :) I got my medal and then got some water and fruit and laid down in the shade in the grass to cool down. After a little while, I went to cheer at the finish until the times were posted. I was curious to see what my official time was. And then it was posted:

I saw the 25:15 first and was a little disappointed that it wasn't closer to my garmin's time. Or even a little faster. I was wondering if I'd stopped it too soon or started it too late but thought I'd started/stopped it on the right lines. But then I saw the 3 next to my name for my division and I was like "Whaaaat?" Cool! Here's a pic of my medal from the 5K (on the left) and my Age Group medal (on the right):

Woo! I was super excited! :) I wanted to hang out and wait for some of my friends who were doing the half but I had to shower, pack, and drive down to San Diego for Sunday's Rock & Roll Half so I got a pork tamale for breakfast and then headed home:

It was yummy!

GOALS ARE SCARY
So many times in the past 6 months I've set a goal for a race and it hasn't panned out. There have been just 2 races since the DNF at Death Valley that I have been satisfied with my time (Snoopy Coaster Run 10K and the Hollywood Half). I have been afraid to set true goals because I didn't want to be disappointed when I failed. I have not been running races as races but more as fun runs and I've forgotten how to hurt.But this time I was satisfied with how I ran it. I gave it everything I had and while I didn't PR, I think I did pretty well. I was a happy runner girl on Saturday!

Thanks for reading!