Sunday, July 24, 2011

Shoreline Run Recap

Mom and I signed up for another adventure in running..a 2 mile race called the "Shoreline Run". This run was bittersweet for me, but I will get to that.

First off, let's get to the goods. My race pack included a shirt, samples of lotion, samples of some energy gels, and stickers for various products.


After waking up around 6:15, I had enough time to get dressed, eat some watermelon, and let the coffee kick in.


Mama Dee came and picked me up..doesn't she look purdy for 6:30 in the morning?!


When we got to the race, we were kinda confused along with a lot of other runners..the start of the race and the registration were very far apart and no one seemed to know where the start line was going to be. This resulted in a lot of people wandering aimlessly in the park.

Eventually, everything seemed to somewhat come together and everyone started to gather. There were a lot of "hardcore runners" in their cute running clothes and we were getting intimidated. There were a little under 200 participants, as well as a 10K going on. We made it our goal just not to embarrass ourselves!!


The race started and we got caught up in the crowd. We were running at a fast pace for us, but eventually the runners thined out and we each got into our own grooves. Mom told me to go ahead and run at my pace, so I took off. About 1/2 mile into the race there was a hill. I was able to pass about 5 other runners, which felt great!! I haven't done much hill training.

So here's the bad part: I missed the turn-around point of the race. I kept running and running, waiting to see the marker. The organizer of the group said the turn-around point was "clearly marked", but I never saw anything!! I looked at my garmin and was up to 1.7 miles! I decided to turn around and call this a wash. As I ran back, I saw all 10K runners. I figured out I had totally screwed up. I started running harder, figuring I could at least catch up with mom and we could finish together. Nope! She was long gone!

My Garmin chirped at the 2 mile mark: 21:02 for 2 miles (about 10:30 pace). Yay! I new PR for me, but no finish line in sight. Oh well. I began to find the whole thing hilarious at this point. Only I would get lost during a road race. Cory would be so making fun of me.

FINALLY I saw the finish. 2.97 miles in 31:48 (about a 10:40 pace). Turns out, I was not the only one who missed the turn-around point. More and more people crossing the finish line were complaining about missing it. At least I felt less like an idiot. Mom was lucky enough to see the marker and turned around at the correct point. She crossed the finish line before me at around 26 minutes. Good job Mom!!

We stuck around until the awards ceremony to see if Mom placed and she had won a raffle for a Road I.D. gift certificate while the race was going on. She was having a good day!! Turns out Mom got 1st place for her age group!! I'm so proud of her!!



Here's the kicker..I got 3rd for mine. Makes me mad because I'm wondering if I could have gotten 1st or 2nd if I would ran the race correctly. The official times are not posted on the website yet, but I will let you all know when I find out where I SHOULD have placed. Oh well. It's a funny race story, and I will know for next year where to turn around.

Afterwards, we hit McD's and pigged out!


Next race isn't until September..a 5K. There is no races in August in my community. Bummer. It's okay though, the heat is killer in this area during August.

Do you have any funny racing stories? Come on, share and make me feel better!

No comments: