The day had come. January 01, 2015. The Commitment Day 5k. Literal months of training. And the first race Will and I would complete together.
Oddly we didn't have snow, not bad for Chicagoland on New Year's Day. It was cold and it was windy. Most of all? I was giddy with excitement. I was standing with and going to race with people who also were Committing to another year of a healthy lifestyle and challenging themselves.
Will said we'd run at my pace, whatever I was comfortable with. I had my gloves on and was wearing a shirt that had thumb holes; this was purposeful. I didn't want to have access to look at my watch or my Garmin. I wanted to trust the pace I had worked so hard to get to, and if I didn't get there, then I'd learn. It was my first real race.
We started off. The cold slapped us in the face. Before the first turn people were walking. We passed people. Once we were on the first straightway of the race ... It.Was.Windy. Wow. I felt my posture struggle, I was letting the wind win and felt as if 15 minutes had passed already. I have no concept of time.
We continued. Before I knew it we passed the 1 Mile marker sign. One Mile Down! Two Point One to go. Onto our second straightway of the race brought us cross wind. Oh the cross wind. I wanted to walk. Other people were walking. In fact, someone walking went by us. I wasn't going to walk. I wanted to run the entire 5k.
We passed the 2 mile marker sign. The people who passed us walking, we ran by them. We turned around on the beloved 'Costco Run' and I knew I could do the last stretch. That last stretch literally was what I had been training for (and on) for months. I can't say for sure, but I think my pace picked up.
We were turning to run to the dumpster, the finish line was beyond where I had been practicing to for months. We heard one of our Run Club Friends cheer for 'Team Awesome'. That was us. Team Awesome. We were awesome. We ARE awesome. For the first time, I saw the clock. We were going to come in under 45 minutes. Under 40 minutes. Under 35 minutes. In fact, we were just over 30 minutes!
Oddly we didn't have snow, not bad for Chicagoland on New Year's Day. It was cold and it was windy. Most of all? I was giddy with excitement. I was standing with and going to race with people who also were Committing to another year of a healthy lifestyle and challenging themselves.
Will said we'd run at my pace, whatever I was comfortable with. I had my gloves on and was wearing a shirt that had thumb holes; this was purposeful. I didn't want to have access to look at my watch or my Garmin. I wanted to trust the pace I had worked so hard to get to, and if I didn't get there, then I'd learn. It was my first real race.
We started off. The cold slapped us in the face. Before the first turn people were walking. We passed people. Once we were on the first straightway of the race ... It.Was.Windy. Wow. I felt my posture struggle, I was letting the wind win and felt as if 15 minutes had passed already. I have no concept of time.
We continued. Before I knew it we passed the 1 Mile marker sign. One Mile Down! Two Point One to go. Onto our second straightway of the race brought us cross wind. Oh the cross wind. I wanted to walk. Other people were walking. In fact, someone walking went by us. I wasn't going to walk. I wanted to run the entire 5k.
We passed the 2 mile marker sign. The people who passed us walking, we ran by them. We turned around on the beloved 'Costco Run' and I knew I could do the last stretch. That last stretch literally was what I had been training for (and on) for months. I can't say for sure, but I think my pace picked up.
We were turning to run to the dumpster, the finish line was beyond where I had been practicing to for months. We heard one of our Run Club Friends cheer for 'Team Awesome'. That was us. Team Awesome. We were awesome. We ARE awesome. For the first time, I saw the clock. We were going to come in under 45 minutes. Under 40 minutes. Under 35 minutes. In fact, we were just over 30 minutes!
Will ended up finishing with a Gun Time of 31:35, and 8th in the 31-46 year male division.
I ended up finishing with a Gun Time of 31:26, and 10th in the 31-46 year female division.
There is always the "What if's", the "I could have's". But you know what? Sure if it hadn't been windy out, maybe I could have run faster. But for my first official race that I really trained for, I'll take it. And from it, I'll take the challenge to finish faster next race.
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