Goal: complete distance without pain or tightness in any muscle
Result: achieved
Why:
This race was never intended as a goal race. When my husband and I found ourselves planning a vacation to Hawai'i, we decided to add a race to our itinerary for the sole purpose of crossing another state off of our lifetime goal of racing in all 50. Based on our timeframe and travel plans, only the Kalakaua Merrie Mile fit the bill.
Pre-Race:
After a partial plantar fascia tear in late September, I spent ten weeks off the pavement. I only got cleared to run nine days before this race, which meant I had no ambitions whatsoever. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd be running the whole thing. During the week leading up to the race, I found myself plagued by some calf issues (thanks to some intense hiking in Kauai). The day before the race, I'd basically made my mind up to walk the entire thing.
We had a cool opportunity to meet my mile coaches, Nick and Sierra Willis, the day before the race. I'd used their Miler Method training program this past summer, and it was nice to meet them face to face, hang by the pool, and get to talk about -what else?- running.
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| Nick getting announced before the elite race |
Race Morning:
Things were surprisingly good this morning. After four mornings with an achy, sore-to-touch calf, I had NOTHING in either leg. I tested it out with some light stretching and calf raises, both of which had hurt earlier in the week-- nothing. Wary, but somewhat excited, I decided I would try to jog the mile, and, if ANYTHING felt the least bit off, would stop and walk immediately. I'd learned my lesson from trying to push through tightness before.
Jerry encouraged me to join him for a light warm-up. I was reticent to run at first, but then figured, if my calf is going to hurt, it might as well let me know right away so I can plan to walk the whole race instead of having to stop in the middle.
We did an easy 3/4mi run. No problems.
That was the longest I'd run since September.
Corrals:
Nick and Sierra (who'd both done the race before) advised us it was a "very casual" race, and that we should be pretty aggressive about start line positioning, even though I'd told them I was taking it easy due to calf trouble. I did not heed their warning.
Though my bib allowed me to start with the sub-8 group, I had no intention of running that fast, and held myself back to the 8-10:00/mi group. This was really, really hard to do. I saw a hoard of people in PINEAPPLE hats with bibs that indicated 12+ min mile times ahead of me, starting in the sub-8 group. I saw people who were decidedly NOT in sub-8 min shape starting with that group. Still, I'm a firm believer in accurate self-seeding. I can't change what other people do, but I can make sure that I'm not part of the problem.
Race
I started off at an easy jog, with the 8-10min/mi wave, thinking I'd be around a 9:30. I didn't look at my watch at all, just ran "easy", making a point of keeping my strides pretty short to put less load on my calves. I got pretty frustrated to be stuck behind a pod of walkers and joggers who weren't going anywhere NEAR a 10min/mi, but reminded myself that I wasn't going for time, and that being stuck behind these people was probably a good thing, since it was forcing me to slow down.
Since the course is out and back, I was able to cheer for Jerry and Sierra as they circled back to the finish line, which was awesome. I felt pretty good at the halfway point, and decided to push a little harder... and almost ran into a couple who were literally stopped in the MIDDLE OF THE LANE, with the woman facing oncoming runners and smiling while her husband/boyfriend/whatever took a picture of her. Yes, they had bibs on. "Casual" didn't begin to describe this race...
I peaked at my watch to see how much further I had to go. I was a little over 0.7... and clocking a 7:XX/mi pace. WHAT? HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I'm sure I had the stupidest grin on my face for the rest of the race. Regardless of my pace, I was running. I could have been running a 12min mile and I would have been just as happy. After almost three months off, and then a week where I went from thinking I could maybe run this to thinking "OMG, I'm not going to run again for another month" to being there in the moment, knowing I was finally on the upswing... it was just perfect.
I closed a bit faster in the last tenth of a mile and finished in -SHOCKER- 7:26.
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| It only took me about a minute to catch up with the people who shouldn't have been in Wave 1 :P |
That was the first mile I've run (at full bodyweight) in a single session since my injury. Thank you, cross-training. Thank you, support group of running friends. Thank you, PT. Thank you, body, for healing up the way you were supposed to.
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| Oh, and Jerry ran a sub-6... with no training.... NBD, right? :P |
This race was everything I wanted it to be and more. I have my confidence back, and, more than that, these injuries have reminded me just how lucky I am to have my health. I am so fortunate for the ability to do what I do, and will return to training with a grateful heart.
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