When I told J my plan for today, he thought I had lost my unemployed basement-dwelling mind!!
It has been a running bucket list item of mine to run the National Cherry Festival Meijer Festival of Races 5K. It's a huge race with thousands of participants. It starts at 7:30am and the race route is about an hour and 20 minutes from our cottage. I informed J that I had signed us up and I hoped he would go with me even though we would get at 5am, drive over, run, then drive back home.
Today was the day! What a guy. :). I didn't sleep well but I also didn't want to sleep through my alarm. We left close to on time, drove to TC, got our packets and froze in the windy 60 degree overcast weather. It seemed to take forever to start the race but they had groups by pace which was helpful. I've never run in that big of a field before, and as we started in waves, I figured this was like the my-world version of the Boston Marathon.
Knowing full well I wasn't going to even place in the top 10 of my age division, my goal was to run the whole 3.1 miles with NO walking whatsoever. Earlier in the week I had three two mile runs, with Thursday's being the fastest pace so this was a really important goal to me. I have been running for total sh*t this year, and it was taking a toll on mentally as well. My PR is 31:05 in May 2015. This year, I haven't even run under 33 minutes. Horribly depressing. But I was determined today to make it my best run of 2016.
J went with a wave before me which makes sense considering he would likely run a 10 minute mile or faster pace. He disappeared quickly and I was on my own. At about the one mile mark I finally settled down into a rhythm and felt OK. Around two I started to feel the slightest pull where my side stitch resides, and I was adamant that it wouldn't hijack my race. I focused more on my breathing pattern and tried to alternate which foot I exhaled on which seemed to keep it at bay. I've never run in such a tight pack of people before! I've also never been passed continuously for all 3.1 miles before! When we rounded the corner onto Front Street, and officer said there was only two more blocks to go. Wouldn't that be great!!! Except I knew he was full of it, and there were at least four to go that I could think of off the top of my head! By this point I was physically spent and did not have my usual "finish line in sight second wind". I wanted to take a break to walk but running is more mental than physical most days. Not to mention Front was lined with people wrapped in blankets holding down their parade watching location and kindly cheering the runners on. I couldnt walk now, after making it the whole way running! The finish line never seemed to get closer so I started looking at the cherry clad store fronts to take my mind off my aching lungs. That helped and as I got close desperately wanted to bolt across that finish line but I couldn't for the life of me muster up an extra ounce of energy. I was disappointed when I realized my chip time was 34:00. That surge could have gotten me into the 33 minute range again! However, when I found J and told him I ran the whole thing, I knew I should be proud of myself and my efforts today.
We found my stepdad after he finished and I was able to see my dear friend Mags who was my roommate when we were finalists for Cherry Queen and then was crowned queen that year. She is the coolest person with the faith of Job! We also cleaned up the giveaways at the finish line including amazing cherry white chocolate cookies, chocolate milk, dried cherries, bananas, and of course, fresh cherries! The unfortunate part was thinking the car was only a mile away and thinking we could walk instead of waiting for the shuttle with hundreds of racers. Turns out it was actually 2.5 miles! We were exhausted by the time we got back to the car and I still had to drive us over an hour home!
Once back at the lake, the weather never really got better and we were able to get through the art fair quickly. We shopped at the cool local wine and beer store--he is always able to find unique small batch local MI beers that J never sees elsewhere--today was no different. He settled on a cool sounding Shorts seasonal. We also drove around the lake checking out the little stores along the way. We decided it was time for birthday dinner in town; pizza and doughy deliciousness for everyone!
It was such a fun afternoon and evening with H and my family. My favorite H move of the day was noticing him staring at some tiaras in a jewelry store before finally trying one on. He couldn't help himself! I did not get a picture but he sure was funny.
We ended our day making Sundaes for Grandma's birthday. It was a wonderful day!
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