Last weekend was a pretty busy one for me. The best part about it, though, was finally meeting Lindsay, of Chasing the Kenyans blog fame, having my brother come for a night to visit, and my family over for dinner on Sunday night, to help Linsday carbo-load for Monday.
I’ve been reading Lindsay’s blog, and she mine, for over a year. I’d say it’s almost a year and a half, actually. I took a look at her oldest posts and realized I’ve been reading it almost since its inception. I found out it exisetd because she dropped a comment on mine, I took a look at the link she left behind, and was mind-blown by how many blogs she managed to keep up with. Plus, I loved image she had in her header, and thought, does she really run as fast as Kenyans do? Well, if you take a look at some of the “bests” that she lists, you’ll see, she’s damn fast!
So, it was only a matter of time until her training (which is beyond anything I think could handle by way of sheer miles, even with her recently as-yet undiagnosed, and confusing health problems) allowed her to qualify for Boston. So, of course I wanted to meet her! I just hoped she didn’t think I was too pushy, offering my place to her to stay. Those of you who have met fellow online Twitter or blogger friends understand. There’s our online personas and the ones we have in person. Even though you’ve shared a lot online, via emails or what-have-you, it is still a little nerve-wracking before you meet in person. Will they think I’m a freak? Not what they expected? Will they then be wondering “um, how do I work myself out of this person’s online life without them noticing?” Or maybe none of you experience this and it’s just me, who worries about too much.
Anyway, we had a great weekend. I very quickly felt comfortable around her and her fiancee, J (as she usually refers to him online.) He is a complete sweetheart. We went to the expo on Saturday afternoon where Lindsay was one of many who bought the real Boston Marathon jacket (I only have the pukey, lime-green colored volunteer one, but believe me, I’m stilll grateful for it as they cost $80 from Adidas.)
Those of you who know about our yellow lab, Ruthie, can imagine how well she took to Lindsay and J, despite their allergies and Lindsay’s asthma. (Luckily, no emergency trips to the hospital ensued!) When they went to the hotel on Sunday night as planned, she moped and kept looking for them, and then realized, “Well, I guess I’m stuck with just Mom and Dad again…sigh. Pet me, Mom?! I’m looking cute just for you.”
Sunday morning was the BAA 5K. The price is a bit steep – $40 for a 5K in a metro area where you can easily run 5Ks for $20 if you register early enough. At least we go a short-sleeved technical shirt. Too bad it’s in the same pukey, lime-green color as my volunteer’s jacket, and the Small-Size still looks like I could almost wear it as a dress. (Didn’t stop me from wearing it the other morning though, so my butt didn’t completely show from my capris tights like they usually do. I can’t be bothered to wear shorts over my tights, sorry. If you’re up as early as I am on my runs, you need to deal with the sight or avert your eyes, and move on.)
The 5K course is mainly flat – the only hill is right near the 1 mile mark, and you run up to the Statehouse. Not challenging unless you are stuck behind people much slower than you. For me, I was lucky and didn’t get caught in such a situation, as did many people I talked to. This was a race limited to 5,000 runners. For spectators, as Lindsay learned, that is a lot of people flying past you in a very short period of time. Even Bill, who is a seasoned spectator, says he needs to turn his eyes away occasionally so as to not become nauseous.
The stationed themselves near the start line at a spot that also afforded the opportunity to try to pick us out just prior to the 2 mile point. Bill said they only saw me and Josh once, and our friend Corey once, and my former coworker and running friend, Will (who took 3rd place in his age group of 60-64, with a time of about 20 minutes, 31 seconds. The man is SICK, I tell you, SICK!) 🙂 If you’re still reading my blog, Will, you should know that Bill thought you’d won the age group. As he put it, “he was HAULING when he flew by us!”
Anyway, I lined up between the signs that said 7 minute pace and 8 minute pace. From the sounds of it, it sounds like many people stationed themselves just behind the 8 minute pace sign that shouldn’t have. I know there were people walking very shortly in front of me after the gun went off and we’d just crossed the start line. Really, people? You knew you were going to walk but couldn’t start further back? Do some people just not get it?!
Anyway, J said he had to weave around people for at least the first mile. My friend and coworker Lisa said she had the same problem. Our friend Corey and his friends got so frustrated at not being able to pass people that I think they just decided to run and talk, finishing well behind me, and with all of them, especially Corey, having the natural ability to totally kick my ass at this distance. (Truth be told, probably at any distance.) (By the way, Corey got spit on during the race. Yes, spit on by someone who clearly doesn’t get race etiquette!)
There was a lot of spectator support, certainly more than I am used to. Which was cool, considering that the race started at 8 a.m. on a chilly, rainyish Sunday. I was lucky and able to get running at my own pace pretty early on and of course, had my iPod going to keep me motivated. I didn’t take water along the course (I’d drunk so much beforehand that as soon as we started, I was like “oh man, I’ve got to pee!” Yeah, not something you want to have to think about for the next 25-30 minutes. Luckily, I was able to push it out of my mind for most of, but not all, of the race.)
Funny thing about this race. It’s a 5K but held in a huge running city. So, of course you get the types of runners who are treating it as if it’s the marathon. About mile 2, there was a water station. People were chucking their cups with lots of gusto. One guy, about 5-8 feet in front of me, decides he’s done with his cup, even though he’d only drunk oh, I’d say about half of it. He whips it with a flourish to his right, never stopping to look to see if there was another runner there. I mean, come on people, when are you not in a crowd in a short distance race like this, and you’re a middle of the pack runner like us? HELLO, NEVER! Well, you should have seen the look on the face of the guy who soon ended up wearing that liquid all over his shirt. The phrase “WTF?!” comes to mind. When I thought about it afterward, just ask Lindsay, I was giggling like crazy. (At the time I was pissed at the cup-chucker.)
Anyway, to draw this very long post to a close (sorry, folks, but a lot transpired last weekend and this doesn’t even cover the half of it), I did not do as well a I wanted, whcih was to break 25 minutes, but I did get a PR at the distance, by 6 seconds.
Stats:
- 66/363 F35-39
- 1182/4948 overall
- Official time: 25:34 (but if you ask me, I ran too far, 3.17 miles, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out my “real” time. I’m sure it was painful for Lindsay to watch/hear about.)
- Mile splits: 8:18; 8:06: 7:57, and last .17 of 7.24. NEGATIVE SPLITS, BABY!
(Mom, I know you’re reading this and are probably wondering what do I mean by negative splits. It means every mile I got faster. That’s a goal in running, to get faster, not slower, as the race wears on.)
Thanks for reading!
April 25, 2010 at 7:28 pm
So nice of you to put up a nearly complete stranger!!
And to volunteer for Boston, that’s a lot of work.
April 25, 2010 at 8:35 pm
I actually didn’t have to kill myself volunteering – just a lot of assembly line work to put together the packets for the marathoners. They have it down to a science, let me tell you. And, hey the jacket is worth it!
Honestly, it never felt weird with Lindsay at all. I was nervous she’d think we were weird, and then would want to leave but not want to be rude, but we totally got along. It was sooo cool.
April 25, 2010 at 10:04 pm
I’m so jealous you got to meet Lindsay. And the picture of her running at mile 14 is awesome!
Your performance in the 5K is impressive. Congrats on a new PR! It’s always frustrating when people line up too far ahead than what they’re capable of doing. It seems like such an obvious etiquette, yet so many do it.
April 26, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Yeah I really liked that picture. She’s smiling and running – nothing like what I look like in BAA 5K photo! (I look like I want to die!)
I think what happens with the big races, is that you just have a higher chance of people not knowing what to do at a race. One of the other folks who commented on this post, Morgan, said that people lined up at the very front, like she did, at the 5 minute pace area, and from the very beginning, walked. Can you imagine?!
I have another really good picture of Lindsay where she’s standing there, smiling, but I’m waiting to see if she puts it up on her blog first.
Sounds like you have to talk Lindsay into either running the PF Changs or another LV marathon – she’s trying to do 50 states – those could suffice for NV!
April 25, 2010 at 10:58 pm
yes you are right i am still reading every word you write thanks for the info because sometimes i have no idea what you are talking about nobody in my family is weird we just move to different drummers i hear your brother drumming now glad you had a good race love ya
April 25, 2010 at 11:15 pm
hi yes you are right i am still reading every word thanks for the info because sometimes i don’t understand what you are talking about nobody in my family is weird we just move to different drummers i can hear your brother drumming now glad you had a good race love ya
April 26, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Hey Mom, for some reason your comments seem to get duplicated. If it doesn’t show up immediately on the blog, it’s because I’ve enabled comment moderation, just meaning that if the blog doesn’t recognize your email address, it sends me a note to make sure I want your comment on the blog. This protects against spam comments showing up on my blog, which could likely attract even more.
April 26, 2010 at 8:02 am
Way to go on the negative splits 🙂
April 26, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Thank you! Funny, but my mom just learned a new term!
April 26, 2010 at 9:05 am
Congrats on the great 5K and awesome job on the negative splits.
It is so nice of you to put people up like that. I will probably take you up on the offer if I happen to qualify this year!
April 26, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Nothing that you wouldn’t do either, Lisa, I’m sure. So maybe I should start taking reservations? You, my brother and Lindsay – don’t worry, there’s room as long as everyone loves animals!
April 26, 2010 at 10:40 am
Great photo of Lindsay, and great job on the 5k. One of these years, I’m going to get to Boston!
April 26, 2010 at 8:17 pm
You will, you’re already doing well at the long distance thing! Trust me, it’s just good for me that I live near Boston, because I’ll never qualify!
April 26, 2010 at 10:58 am
Great race Terri! And $20 for a 5K? We’re lucky to pay $35 six months in advance! And all we get is a lousy t-shirt.
Great that you and lindsay were able to meet! One of these days I hope I get our a to b&b at Chez O’Rourke!
April 26, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Yeah, around here, if people had to pay all that money every time, I don’t think that they’d get as many runners as they do. There are just so many races, which I am sure there are also in Southern Cali. Which just makes me wonder, why are they so EXPENSIVE with you? By the way, are the shirts that you get cotton ones, or technical ones? A lot of races around here are starting to now give technical shirts whereas last year they would have been cotton. Such an improvement!
Glenn, the door will always be open!
April 26, 2010 at 8:21 pm
i like the slimming effect your iphone camera has 🙂
loved this post, of course, but i am bias. lol about your race time math. i am too lazy to ever try and figure it out so i just go with what the race people say. as you know i already wrote an email touching on some of my ‘comment’ regarding this and how i am not going to slowly disappear from the internet.
congrats on your 5k pr and negative splits! i am pretty sure i have never negative-splitted.
ps: congrats on the baby girl! 😉 jk jk.
April 26, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Yes, but for some reason the slimming effect doesn’t seem to want to work on me with the photos because I look short and squat! you’ve never negative splitted? somehow I find that hard to believe. I bet if i went back through your blog I would find that you have, at least once. Keep in mind, too, that my race was only 3 miles. Anything longer and the splits would go right out the window.
In that photo, notice you can’t see Bill’s face? I kept trying to get him to look at me and he kept refusing. The whole day he tried so hard to not have to hold onto those things, he was such a pest!
April 28, 2010 at 8:49 am
I’m not sure I would have just given the guy a mean look if he’d thrown water on me, however unintentionally. Glad you’re still getting out there and running closer to your 5k race goal these days.
April 29, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Anne, it was so classic when it happened. The guy was so dramatic as he tossed his cup, I almmost burst out laughing.
April 28, 2010 at 11:43 am
Wow – you keep getting faster and faster! What’s up with the lime green theme this year? Didn’t we get that color shirt at the Haverhill race too? Sounds like an interesting race.
April 28, 2010 at 1:14 pm
The Haverhill shirts were a prettier shade of lime green, trust me! Um, my time was helped by the flatness of the course….
April 29, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Congratulations on the 5K race! And I didn’t know what negative splits were either — your blog is educational!
May 3, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Stick with me, Sarah, you never know what you might learn! (Or want to erase from your memory, just sayin’…)
April 30, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Sounds like an awesome time! How great to spend time with Lindsay.
Congrats on the 5K! Love the negative splits.
May 3, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Yes, it was very cool to spend time with such a cool chick. We had a great weekend, that’s for sure! And thanks re. the 5K. I have a ways to go to get to your speed, but I’m working on it!