Semana Nautica 15K Race Recap

Oh man. How do I start to describe my race experience? How do I convey my utter distress? Where do I start?

I guess starting off saying that we missed the start of the race says a lot.

Yup. James and I missed the start of the race by about 3 minutes.
We were THE last people.

I am OCD about punctuality. I HAAAAATTTTEEE being late with a passion. Let's just say James does not feel that way about time. He calls it "Aloha Time." And let's just say "Aloha Time" prevailed on race morning.

When we crossed the starting line 3 minutes late, I didn't even have my race number on, I hadn't yet put my car keys away, I didn't have my iPod on yet, and I was freaking out. We had to walk the first few minutes or so just trying to pin my number up, and get everything organized. I was on the verge of tears. My breathing was whacked up, and my heart was pounding. I had wanted this race to go so well, the reality of it was just too much to handle at that moment.

I thought the race was doomed from the start. We could hardly see the people in front of us. I was yelling at James.
When we finally caught up with the last few people of the pack in front of us, ADRENALINE KICKED INTO HIGH GEAR. All of a sudden I was a girl on a mission; Pass as many people as humanly possible. From that moment on, the race was about catching up and passing. It wasn't about time, pace, or miles. It was how many people can I pass?

Runners 1-7: Still feeling pissed I missed the start
8-20: DO NOT let anyone you pass pass you back. You CAN do this!
21-30: Feel a HUGE ego boost every time I pass someone. My mind and body are BACK in the game! I can't wait to pass more people.
31-54: I like passing groups of people running together. I can pass multiple people with one effort!
55-60: It is getting harder to pass people. The fast people are so far in front of us.
61-64: Each runner takes a few minutes each to pass. Runner 54 passes me! Oh no he didn't! I CANNOT let him re-pass me! Pick up my pace a little.
65-70: Re-re-pass runner 54 at aid station. Yes. Feel queasy running uphill. But I pick up speed on the uphill because I know others will slow down. I MILK the downhill, letting go of my fear of tumbling down and just go for it.
71-80: A struggle. Mentally, I'm starting to feel defeated. Gah! Why were we late!!!! I try to make the most of every little downhill to pick up speed.
81-82: James starts conversing with a man running with his dog. The dog is running the whole 15K! I can't even talk with them, I'm breathing so hard. But they are running fast, and they help pull me along.
83-85: Pass mile 6 and 3 runners at once.
86-91: People are starting to slow down, so I make moves to pass each one. It is getting harder and harder to pass people. I am getting tired. 3 more miles to go. I know I can do it.
92: Takes FOREVER to pass
93: Are we done yet? Oh no, I'm being passed! A runner sprints past me. There is no way I can catch up.
94-96: Time to sprint to the finish! I finsish running 9.5 miles (yup, according to mapmyrun.com)

I passed 96 people (97 if I didn't get re-passed right at the end), and finished strong. My heart rate was 175-185 the entire time. I blame that on the adrenaline. My official time was 1:27:37, but that's not my real running time. My Polar says 1:24:31. So I am sticking to that as my time. I'm so bummed though, that my race results are going to be kept for all eternity and no one knows that I had a three minute handicap! But I am very proud of myself for running strong, and not getting mentally defeated and giving up. And I will make sure James will never make me late to a race again! haha.
The rest of Fourth of July went really well (minus major post-run stomachache due to major stress).



And I also decided to sign up for a 10K race in August. There is going to be free ice cream at the end. Will run for dessert. That's my slogan.
Oh, speaking of desserts, I am on a one-week ban. I promised James I will give up one bad habit this week; and desserts are my demons. When I make promises to others, I can keep them, but I can never do it on my own. Maybe I should just publicly make promises to not eat sweets and my problem will be solved.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!