Event: Thanksgiving 5K Run/Walk
Date: 11/23/2006
Location: Crystal Lake, IL

Aside from the timing being right for this training milestone, the initial idea for doing this race was to do a 5K to celebrate reaching 5000 visitors to my blog.

I'd been working hard at running in previous weeks and was getting tantalizingly close to my goal of running three miles without walk breaks. So even though coming into it had been planned meticulously, when the day came I went to the race with no particular plan in mind, and not just because the tickle in my throat from the night before had developed into a little cough. It's unusual for me to not know exactly how I'm going to do a distance - how long the run intervals will be, when I'll take walk breaks. I knew I was probably coming down with something so shouldn't expect to run, but aside from my throat I felt perfectly fine. Besides, my goal had been to run it... so why plan for anything else? I took some cough suppressant, checked the temperature, geared up accordingly and was out the door by 7:20.

It was 31, sunny, no wind. Just beautiful. I felt pretty good about my new upper body cold weather gear, but I still hadn't found cold weather running pants. I wore my cool weather cycling tights, which had worked out well on a 23 degree training run. Until I get the real thing, I figured I'm a triathlete so am used to running with some cycling padding in my pants.

Since I require a long time to warm up I made sure I arrived with time to walk around a stretch a lot. I was hoping Monday's visit to the sports therapist and a lot of stretching would keep me from needing to stop along the run to stretch out my cranky calves, and thankfully it worked like a charm. I was thrilled to see a full parking lot, because there had been a tiny voice in my head saying "what if only Hard Core Runners run this and they all go home before you're finished?" It was nice to see such a wide cross-section of people at this event: Runners, runners, Team Runners (junior high, high school and college kids bearing XC shirts from local schools), Junior Runners (kids as young as 7 sprinting around the course), Walkers and walkers. There were even families with kids and dogs. As I was greeted exuberantly by many a happy dog while warming up I wished more than once I'd known they were allowed. Definitely bringing Kona next time.

It was also great to not be the only one decked out in technical gear - more than half the racers were and except for the fact they they all left me in the dust I blended right in. A good number of gazelles were wearing shorts, and a couple were wearing nothing but. (I later heard one of these nearly naked men report their time as 16:32... and he wasn't the winner.) I felt kinda cool at the start when the beep of my lap watch was only one of many. That feeling quickly dissipated as the entire pack thundered by, leaving me ahead of only a few walkers. I resisted the adrenaline rush that comes with every race start and initiated a sustainable pace. I forced myself keep this frustrating, ridiculous slow pace because, aside from not feeling my best I knew I'd never run farther than 1.5 outside (and 2.5 indoors). I really wanted to see how far I could go.

At the half mile marker I was feeling noticeably warmer and took off my gloves. As I passed the 1 mile marker I remembered to hit the lap button, then I took off the t-shirt layer, tied it around my waist and unzipped the pullover as far as it would go. It was maybe 35 degrees now, but I was suddenly understanding how the Nearly Naked Gazelles (who had already lapped me several minutes earlier) could do it. At this point I did a little survey and liked what I found. Legs - fine. Lungs - fine. Heart - fine. I picked up the pace a tiny bit.

As I passed the 1.5 mile marker I briefly channeled Tri Blogger Veeg, thinking, happily - this is the farthest I have ever run outside. AND I FEEL GOOD.

A few minutes later I passed a lone woman with a little boy, maybe 3 years old. They were sitting on a park bench watching. She was teaching him how to cheer for the runners and shake cowbells like it was a real race. I laughed and we exchanged 'Happy Thanksgivings' and then they were lost around the bend, but they kept me going for a little while.

Next I passed a woman walking with her daughter. We chatted briefly and I learned she's a long-time runner and trying to get her clearly reluctant daughter to catch the bug. She congratulated me on my progress, then turned her attention back to the daughter who had stuffed her hands into her pockets and was stomping dejectedly along. I wished with all my heart I could convey to this overweight little girl how good it feels, and how it changes your life, to embrace exercise. But I knew there was nothing I could say because this is a lesson we have to learn on our own. I kept going.

I found myself looking hard for mile marker 2 and inordinately happy to finally mark it on my watch. Things were definitely not as easy as they had been. My breathing wasn't as smooth, my legs weren't as light. The crowd had thinned considerably and the first of the gazelles who were running a 10K just for kicks had passed on their way back through the course. And I was starting to get the first of many "good job, you're almost there's" from finishers who had come back through.

Before I'd passed the 2.5 marker my legs piped up and asked 'would you like some lead with that Jello?' Thankfully that passed quickly. But as I passed the 2.5 marker my breathing was noticeably more labored and the voices started up.

This is the farthest you have ever run. EVER. That's great... you can STOP NOW. Lungs seconded the motion. As did Heart.

But I kept telling them that it was only another half mile, maybe 7 minutes, and we can TOTALLY keep it together for 7 minutes, right?

The angry chorus reluctantly calmed and I returned the focus to my breathing. I noticed right away it was no longer the hynoptically smooth in-two-three out-two-three rhythm I had come to know when running without headphones. There was a ragged quality, with extra beats here and missing beats there. While I pondered what this meant for the rest of this race I came around a curve, the 3 mile marker came into sight and Legs made a break for it.

I felt myself speeding up and had the eerie feeling I couldn't do anything to stop it even though I couldn't breathe enough to keep it up. I decided to let them go - Legs clearly wanted to run even though Heart and Lungs really weren't on board. I managed to hit the lap button as I passed the 3 mile marker and as I turned toward the finish line I broke into the closest thing I could muster to a sprint.

My face was hot, my heart racing, my breathing ragged, but I could feel that I couldn't slow down without stopping, and I hadn't run this far to walk the last few yards. I remembered to look at the clock when I crossed, remembered a second later to stop my watch.

I was such a wreck I couldn't speak to thank the volunteer who handed me a finisher's card (no chip timing or bib numbers at this informal event - you mark your own time on an index card and turn it in). I made myself walk until my heart returned to normal and my breathing was controlled. Then I took stock and was amazed as how normal I felt. My legs weren't tired at all and it took me a minute to remember it's because they're used to going on a 20K bike ride before a 5K. But the next day - same thing. Not a hint of tiredness or soreness from the race. Clearly my body is ready for this now. I just need to get in some solid base training this winter to get my heart on board.

Race Results:
Time: 43:59:59 (PR)

Splits:
Mile 1: 15:04:13 (this includes the time it took to reach the starting line from the back of the pack, 10-20 seconds)
Mile 2: 14:25:44
Mile 3: 13:27:30
Mile 3.1: 1:02:72

Goals Met:
- run an entire 5K
- in under 45:00
- by the end of 2006

Michelle Wood
November 2006