I woke up at 5am (with the new hat in tow) and took a cab with some other runners out to Queens. I got there around 6 and met up with my friends in the really long port-a-potty lines. We lined up at the start line for the 7am start. I always get excited right before the start of a race, but I was trying to keep it in check. It was already warm and I wasn’t expecting to perform that well. Around 7:15, we were off!
I ran the first mile in about 10:40 and I was already getting a little discouraged. The next mile was about 10:15. This was a little better, but it still wasn’t fast enough if I wanted to meet my goal time. At mile 6, I was still behind my goal time. I told myself to relax, and whatever happened would happen. Then something magical happened. As soon as I relaxed, I started going faster. Mile 6 to 7 was my fastest mile. When I reached mile 7, I realized I was on track to set a personal record (PR). I checked and rechecked my watch to make sure. I was magically a few seconds under my goal time. Now that the PR seemed like a possibility, I wanted to give myself a little wiggle room. So I continued on, remembering to relax and have fun. That seemed to be the key
I started feeling the heaviness in my legs around mile 9. I was still ahead of my goal time, and by now I was about a minute or two ahead, so I figured I could take a walking break at the next water station. I was also pretty tired of accidentally pouring Gatorade up my nose. Running and drinking isn’t that easy, so a walk break seemed like a good idea. After my little break, I felt renewed and kept going.
At this point in the race I was passing a lot of people. I just have a cheap watch from K-mart so it doesn’t give me my pace per mile. I have to do the math at each mile to figure it out. Since I was getting tired, I didn’t want to do math. I figured if I just kept passing people, I was probably running about the right pace.
By the time I reached mile 12, I knew I had it. I had 14 minutes to reach the finish line and still have a PR. I started to tear up, then hyperventilate. Just breathe and keep it together, Lisa! Can’t lose it now! The last mile had the most spectator support and was a lot of fun. I pushed myself to the end and finished in 2:07:33, two and a half minutes ahead of my previous best. I felt pretty freaking awesome.
At the end, I found my friend Carolann (she PR’d too!) and we decided to go play in the unisphere fountain.
This was the best part of the whole morning. I jumped in in my sports bra and splashed around. It felt like I was a kid at a water park. It was so cold and wonderful. The water was up to my ankles and soaked my feet. We were playing in the fountain and saw our friend Robyn coming around the corner and we cheered her on from the fountain. It was a really good way to celebrate a great race.
All in all, this was a better race than I expected. It wasn’t as hot as I was planning for and there were tons of misting stations (basically GIANT hoses) to cool us off. The course didn’t have great spectator support, but I actually really like the park and the course wasn’t bad. But that’s not what I was so happy with this race. I didn’t get a PR because the weather was good or the course was nice. It happened because I ran a really smart race. I knew when to push myself, how much to push myself, when to just breathe, and when to take a break. It was still hard and there were times when I couldn’t breathe or when things were hurting or even once when I thought I might throw up. But I was able to push through it. So basically, I kicked butt. Take that Queens!
The rest of the day, I indulged myself and relaxed. I ate a GIANT cheeseburger (yum) and A LOT of drinks. Drinks are more effective after running. Next was a nap, followed by S’Mac for some decadent mac and cheese (more yum) and even MORE drinks. Someone even bought me some flowers.
What more could a girl ask for?
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