Fruits of My Labor (Day)

Yes I can! I ran the Francestown Five today, my first 5-mile (8K) race. I had a good run, learned some new things, met some new people. It was a totally awesome day. Another bib on the fridge, baby!

The Prep
Rise at 6:30am (OK, 7… ish… hit snooze, hit snooze, hit snooze). Dress in running shirt, skirt & sneaks, eat half a banana, 3 spoons of yogurt, handful of granola. Drink 20 oz. water, pour a black coffee to travel, bang: out the door. Bang: back in the door, for pants & a hoodie, which I pull on over my other outfit cuz it’s 45-degrees. Weatherman called for 75 & sunny. Later, I guess?

Half hour drive to Francestown, must park & be registered before 8:30am. Nailed that one, so far so good. The 8K starts at 9:15am, just after a 5K that runs at 8:30am. It was strange for me to wait for the longer race! So… stand around, stretch. Go pee. Actually enjoy how warm it is in the porta-potty. I’m not kidding. Stand around more, blab w/hubby & neighbors we know. Do jumping jacks to warm up. Pee again. Finally, queue up at the rear of the herd. The race starts.

The Race Report
I never take music to a race, so I occupied my mind trying to do everything everyone told me. Take it slow at the start, run my own race for the first mile. Then look for someone ahead of me as a “pacer,” someone a little faster but not too much faster. Stick with them, try to close the gap, pass if I comfortably can. I tried to maximize my breathing. Tried to open my stride on flat straight-aways, tried to keep a steady pace uphill. Relax my body, don’t tense up…

In between the effort, I enjoyed the scenery. The first 4 mi. was breathtaking. Dirt roads lined with stone walls, shade trees, fields & forest, the occasional historic houses, as prim as they were in the 1800s. Quintessential New England. Running is a great way to remember that I live in a beautiful area.  By the last mile, the course turns mundane (paved state route) but by then, I wasn’t looking at anything but the runners ahead & the “FINISH” banner.

I came in at 49:02, which is spot-on my usual 10 min. mile. I may be slow, but I’m reliable. I should have been a train.

I now confess I almost lost my nerve to do this race. I did something foolish last night. I looked at last year’s race results for the first time & to my horror, saw stats similar to this. I have only run the full 5-mile distance twice in training runs here at home. Once at 57 min, the other at 59 (that one I had to walk some, due to humid heat & wheezing). So when I saw that kind of performance might put me just before the “sweep” runners, I felt a little sick. I slept like crap as a result, which didn’t exactly help my confidence this morning. But I told myself that I said I was going to run this race & I would run it, no backing out. Even if I came in dead last, I would feel good that I saved the person in front of me from being dead last.

Lo & behold, I beat the odds. But not without a little drama, and a great message from a stranger…

At the 3.5 to 4 mi. mark, this guy kept creeping up on me. We were so evenly paced that I wasn’t sure if he was just following me, or trying to pass. He was starting to annoy me, stress me out. He was so close behind w/his loud footfalls, heavy breathing, hocking loogies & spitting. Finally, he came up on my left as we were about to turn right & I’d had enough. I privately decided to slow for a few seconds on the turn, figuring to let him pass & then follow him instead. Surprisingly, he called me on it. First time anyone ever talked to me during a race!

He said, “Hey, don’t just let me pass. You’ve been my pacer the whole race. We’ve got less than a mile to go & you’re running a good race. If I am coming up on you, I may be able to pass & hold, or maybe not. You stay ahead or with me as long as you can. I should only go on ahead if you can’t honestly hold your position.”

How did he know I was an inexperienced racer? Good advice, duly noted: Obviously, I should never thwart a runner coming up to pass. But I shouldn’t lie down, either. If it means running neck & neck for a while, I should do so, to keep my position as long as I can. So I did. I ran my own pace next to him until I couldn’t hold any longer. We came to the last uphill before the finish — stupid uphill finishes! — and he started to lose me, so I asked that he please NOT spit to his right, as I would be on his right flank as long as I could manage it. He laughed an attagirl & said “Gotcha: Spit to my left.”

After the race, he introduced himself. We chatted only a few minutes, but long enough for me to find out there’s a 10K race in my area next month. It’s the Leaf Peeper Classic 10K on October 10, and the best part is a start time of 1PM. Wish granted, an afternoon race! No zombie morning run for once, woo hoo! So thanks to this random Messenger of the Universe, I can complete my goal of running a 10K this year after all. Then, I can put my 10K training plan behind me & start figuring how the hell I’m going to stay on target for my 15K trail run next June when winter’s coming & I have a serious aversion to both treadmill runs & running in cold, ice & snow. Anybody know an angry trainer with a bullwhip? Cripes.

After the race, more fun to be had. Yes, they had watermelon & brownies, but since the race was part of a town fair, there were crafts, a flea market & a really cool live animal display. I mean, how could I resist a Mediterranean Spur Thighed Tortoise (above), after just running a slow but successful race? Hooray for the beautiful tortoises of the world! I really want a pet armadillo, tho. Bad. We didn’t stay long enough for me to dive on a piglet in the Pig Scramble. If you can catch one, you get to keep it or put it up for auction. Guess what I’d do? HA!

Tags: 5 mile race, 8K race, armadillo, fitness over 40, milestone, running, tortoise