RACE REVIEW:SUPER SUNDAY 5K

 "Time I listen
Time I restart
Time to live in every present
Time I switched up
Time take

Chase every second"

'Wait For It', Salute

Back on Sunday, February 12th I lined up for my first race of the year; the Super Sunday 5K.  I also happened to be turning 48 that same day so for my birthday I would be running my least favorite distance.  For fun.  Happy birthday to me.  Clearly not my first pick, but it was a Whirlaway team event and I like to be a team player when I can plus several of my friends were doing it and my coach basically told me I didn't have a choice.  So there's all of that, too.  I was up in NH the night before celebrating with some friends so I had to get up and jet back down to Cambridge at the crack of dawn to make it to the race on time.  We had a lovely evening with friends so this was absolutely worth it.  As always, I laid my gear out the night before and set multiple alarms for the early shift.  Note my bib number.  We were allowed to choose our numbers when we registered.  I freaking love this concept and wish we could do it more often.  I'm guessing many of us would happily take all the extra magic we can get when it is offered to us.  Obviously I went with 4141 for double the magic.  Side note, 41 is my favorite number and the story is too long to share here but I'm happy to tell it to anyone who's interested at any time.  Despite not loving the 5k because it is short and ridiculously painful I was super excited about the number and this defintiely cushioned the blow.

The race start was 10am but I was out the door at 6:30am because I'd been told that parking for this race was nuts and that it was wise to get there on the early side.  No need for the added stress of something controllable like parking.  It was quite chilly at this hour and my car was frozen over so I had to do some thawing and scraping before I took off.  Normally I would complain but I had my new handy, dandy glove scraper that Rosie and Grace gave me for Christmas so I was all good with it.  I'm super cool. 

Despite the cold it was a beautiful morning and once I hit the road and my coffee started to kick in I was feeling quite chipper.  The drive was a piece of cake and I rolled into Cambridge right around 8:30.  Parking was indeed a bit of a shit show and after doing several laps I ended up pulling into a garage which was less than ideal mainly because I wouldn't be able to bring most of my stuff with me and then drop it back at the car as I usually do.  Whatever.  I got up to the street and found the line to get my number which was very long.  I waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Literally, no movement.  I was starting to get stressed as my teammates were heading out for their warmup and I could do nothing but continue to wait.

See the woman looking around my shoulder.  That was all of us.  We could not believe how long it was taking and there was absolutely nothing any of us could do about it.  Good times.  Finally, I got my bib and swiftly moved out to get a couple miles in.  The Whirlaway crew had already left but my friend and fellow Lex coach, Devon, was also racing and he, too, was in line so I told him I'd run close by so he could join me when he was ready.  Well, that happened to be never because I'd finished 2 miles running back and forth on the same two blocks by the time he was finally good to go.  The race is huge, over 6000 people.  But still, what the hell with the bib allocation.  There has got to be a better way.

The temperature was pretty mild, in the mid-40s.  But there was also a cold wind.  I struggled to figure out what to race in and finally landed on my singlet and shorts.  I'd brought a blanket from my car since I couldn't go back and forth as I knew I'd probably want the extra layer as I waited in the start chute.  So, I just went ahead and wrapped it around my legs as I did my pre-race strides because I was cold and could have cared less how dumb it looked.  Which turned out to be very dumb.  Hopefully I made some people laugh at my expense.  That's always a good thing.  I made my way over to the line just before 10am, found my teammates and snuck in next to them.  Lauren loves the 5k about as much as I do which you can see from her expression below.  It was nice to finally be surrounded by my buddies after a solo warmup.  It was also freezing and we were bouncing around like jumping beans ready to get the party started.  

THE RACE:

I've been in a marathon buildup since November and didn't have much speed work under my belt prior to this race so I didn't quite know what to expect.  I'd asked my coach, Ruben, whether he thought a 6:00 - 6:10 effort was realistic and he thought it was so that's the number I had in my head when we started.  But, as always with a 5k, the thought process went immediately out the window after about 10 steps because, holy shit, people take off so fast and it becomes just a "hold on for dear life" situation almost immediately.  What I've learned after a few of these is that looking at the watch isn't really helpful.  It's 3.1 miles.  You just run fast and then try to run faster.  Every mile hurts.  It's just a matter of leaning in and sending it.  

And that's basically what I did.  With my eyes closed, of course.  Which I have mastered.  You know the whole running with your eyes closed thing?  Yep.  Really good at it.  As my friend Steve says, race pics aren't really my thing and more often than not I look like I am dying or severely struggling.  Which I guess is pretty much true to the situation.  You gotta appreciate the fact that I keep it real, right?  There's honestly not much else to say about this one.  I did not check my splits.  I don't even remember mile markers.  I just ran my face off and hoped for the best.  And I was pleasantly surprised to finish in 18:29, which was just a tad faster than Ruben and I had predicted.  Always trust the Sensei.

Overall, I was very happy to run a time that was right around my personal best despite being a year older.  Take that, Father Time!  I was also very happy that it was over because it just hurt so much.  As it always does.  Again, happy birthday to me.  After I finished I found Ruben (above) and then waited for Devon (below) who was doing the 5 mile race.  I happen to be coaching Devon for Boston and this was part of his training.  He absolutely killed it running just under 30 minutes which exceeded our expectations.  We were both really freaking pumped.

We ran a couple more miles together and then did our cool down strides to flush the waste products in our legs, a critical piece of the puzzle for both of us.  Then we bundled up and went to get coffee at Starbucks; my choice because my birthday coffee was free and it had to be redeemed on the actual day.  And you know I was taking advantage of that offer.  We sat and sipped for a while neither of us having anywhere urgent to go and me loving the fact that the race was over and my coffee was on the house.

All in, it was a pretty good little day.  I'd run hard.  Spent time with friends.  Done better than I'd hoped.  Had fun.  Kind of.  And then enjoyed the fruits of my labor.  And then after all of that, I got to head back home to spend the rest of my birthday with Jeff and the girls.  Which I was very excited about; both to be with them and to eat cheeseburgers and ice cream with them.  Real talk.  I did complain about the distance.  I can't help it.  I probably always will.  But I truly love the whole process.  It brings me so much joy for so many reasons.  Racing, that is.  And coffee.  

Listen to this:

Wait For It by Salute

salute · Wait For It