llbean 10k

this past thursdays fourth of july L.L.Bean 10k was my 21st lifetime 10k race, and the 4th time i have run this race. for some reason i still keep signing up for this race and around mile 2 i curse myself for being out there. its always hot. its always humid. and those damn hills get bigger each year i swear.

2009- 49 minutes flat (apparently i was in some sort of sick shape then) (yes, that is in fact the same year where i went 47:50 at the beach to beacon 10k, a month later. ive never even come close to that again.)
2010- 52:21
2011- 51:31
2012- didnt run, dont know why (oh yeah because i dont like this course and its always hot and humid and they never move the hills like i ask them to! actually ty and i went to foxboro and ran finish on the 50! best race ever! i should do that one every year, right katie?)

but alas, there i was at the starting line last week. i had seen a few friends prior to the race start (although none of them were the friends i had said i would hopefully meet up with pre race!), andy had thankfully picked up my race bib when i frantically texted him on my drive up, and they had a not so great rendition of the star spangled banner before we took off (granted i shouldnt talk, you dont see me up there singing it, but im really more for the traditional play the original band version over an intercom kinda gal).

i didnt wear my watch on purpose... this was my first 10k back after having henry and i just wanted to run the race for me. i only had 3 miles on the training schedule for this day so i definitely wanted to get that in, and then walk the rest if i needed to, i really didnt care. in the first mile i felt pretty good, it was mostly downhill and shady. shortly before the mile marker i saw cindy up ahead of me, one of the people i had tried to find pre race. she had an "idiots running club" bright neon yellow shirt on, you couldnt miss her! i sprinted to catch up with her, then spent the next few minutes trying to catch my breath as we chatted. i then fell back a little and tried to get into a groove.

during the 2nd mile three other friends caught up and passed me (thanks allie, jake, and andrew! just kidding, nice work). pretty much everyone else i knew that was running was stupid fast and way ahead of me so i didnt have to worry about seeing anyone else i knew. i just kept running along, knowing the hills that were coming up and dreading every minute leading up to them. just before mile 3 is a pretty big hill, and i decided to push it up that, then use the downhill to recover and reassess my game plan from there. i crossed the 3 mile marker at 28:30, knowing i was just about 30 seconds behind the clock, and i felt pretty good about that. my body wasnt feeling great though, so i decided to walk a little. the water stop after mile 3 was a mess, so many people stopping for water and the volunteers were frantically trying to fill up cups as they had gotten behind. i didnt care if it took all day, the water from the hoses was so cold and i eventually took a cup and dumped half of it down my front, half of it down the back of my neck. ahhhh, refreshing. a ridiculously horrible hill is right before mile 4, and yeah. i walked up that one for sure. its seriously pure evil.

at mile 4, miley cyrus's song "the climb" came on. this song always makes me emotional (please hold off on all the laughing, i really do like that song), but it really hit me right then and i welled up. ive always had this crying during races problem (it got a little better once where i wasnt crying at every race, but it creeps up on me from time to time). have you ever cried during a race? its really hard to breathe. not so conducive to running. and then i get mad that im crying and yell at myself. and i look like a fool. but whatever, so i was like bawling. i was so happy i was out there despite hating that race course and for that mile i just felt awesome. mile 5 to 6 sucked again (hill) but i made it, and sprinted past a few people into the finish line. i was so happy to be done!

the struggles im facing, the chances im taking

sometimes might knock me down but no im not breaking

i may not know it, but these are the moments im gonna remember most 

yeah, just gotta keep going

and i, i gotta be strong, just keep pushing on

...aint about how fast i get there

aint about whats waiting on the other side

its the climb

the end.

and then i went promptly to my 2nd home

official time: 1:04:00  

pace: 10:19

69th out of 98 age group

988th out of 1359 total runners