For some unknown reason-this was THE year. I began barefoot running last spring and have been working on that all summer as well. So I was training for a preliminary 12 mile race in July, and sure enough-race week injury! Because I am antique and experienced I was wise enough to realize I should not race that week.Besides that, I have had a chronic achilles problem all summer,but I forged ahead.Onward and forward,after prodding from friends, I signed up for the Twin Cities 10 mile race on 10/2 and the Monster Dash 1/2 marathon 10/29. I never do anything the common sense way-only ever dive in head first and this was no exception.
Living in a rural area is amazing for daily running, but always poses issues for being in the big city at the crack of dawn for any reason.Luckily a friend of mine was sweet enough to offer me a gourmet meal and a bed nearer the race. We had a fun lovely evening that even included quinoa for the prerace meal as she was also racing.
Interestingly enough, I was not nervous at all. It was only 10 miles-piece of cake,and I had no illusions of breaking any time records.I have been doing 12-15 mile runs every Sunday. So this was just going to be a run smiley fun day. I did have one little trick up my sleeve however. I hesitated to even tell anyone.
My personal goal was to run the end of the race barefoot.
I had been barefooting all summer, and after all only have,let's see chip and seal ,or chip and seal,or oh yea chip and seal as my daily barefoot terrain options. (oh wait or gravel)
So race morning arrives! NO sleep whatsoever...an inadvertent extra cup of coffee in the eve-should have known better. So although the bed was comfy and the accommodations were luxurious..um yea..no sleep.
Also -no a.m.coffee-me who has 3 cups of coffee before my daily run. The neighbor lady was kind enough to bring me coffee on the way to the race ,but by then I was in race(not I need a bathroom) mode.
On to the race...chilly morning ,but it would be go into the 70's by noon. My stomach was remarkably calm. I was packed into the slow newbie starting corral, so my hopes for the first few miles were not very high. I had studied the course,hills, etc and I was ready!! The race began at 7:09 (why I have no idea) and we actually were able to start by 7:23. So far so good. I was sandwiched in between the 7,579 other TC10 milers.Because I don't own a Garmin and never even run with a watch,I just set up for a cruisin smiley race.
The crowd actually moved ahead and spread out more than I expected.For the first 2+ mile I ran up on the sidewalk edge as much as possible to get around people and not feel claustrophobic. As I am used to running alone,this was a bit of a concern. But I grew up in the Chicago suburbs,so crowds didn't really bother me. Having never done such a huge race before ,I had no idea what to expect regarding pacing. I just decided to run how I felt and I did. The first several miles seemed really long,partially because we were going uphill. But once I began passing a lot of people,I felt a lot better and settled into my pace. Somehow,I never really knew what mile I was on throughout the whole race. Why ? I can not tell you why I couldn't see the mile markers.I noticed all of the marathon mile markers,but not mine! Maybe God's way of nudging me into the marathon next year?
Finally as we were headed on a gradual incline (which I only knew from studying the course) up Summit Av, I gave up and started asking people what mile we were on.Surprisingly no one else I asked knew either!!
One girl said," My Dad was supposed to be at 5 1/2." Ok-never knowing if she saw him or not-Sooooooooo-figuring we were near mile 6,I thought-Now is the time!!! I was keeping a good pace ( for me) and felt overall great(my achilles were holding up!)....so I quickly jumped over to the side on the grass and whipped off my brand new Stem minimalist (awesome and amazing shoes by the way) without even using my hands! Picked them up and off I ran!! It usually takes me a mile to pick my pace back up after taking shoes off in the middle of a run. I was shocked that I seemed to pick my pace back up almost immediately!! I just kept cruising. It did turn out to be a lot of (ok mostly) chip and seal and I thought, "Haha-I fooled em-I can do chip and seal!!"
I ran and ran, feeling awesome and free as I passed people. Inadvertently ran through a crowded and messy water station that I promptly avoided by changing sides of the road-so I would avoid much wet pavement.
I did notice as we were heading due East that the sun was aggravating me. I had sunglasses, but no hat and my sunglasses were steamy. That was a mild irritation.
This was soon disspelled by cheers from the crowd of "GO barefoot lady!!!" And THAT my friends was worth everything....
I heard several more comments as I ran but none was as inspiring as the first. As we descended down a mild hill toward The Wall and then back up the last hill,I still had no idea what mile we were on. I knew we were getting close,but still no idea! Then out of no where, I saw the Minnesota State Capital and the finish line!!!! I was like -"YES" I am so going over that finish line barefoot!!!! ...and I did..waving my shoes in the air .....
I could have kept going but you couldn't even get through the crowd!! I figure I ran the last 4 miles barefoot according to my calculations.And it was awesome!
We went back to watch the marathoners coming in and cheer. I saw only about 3 other barefooters in the marathon,but no others in the 10 miler.I yelled as loud as I could for those barefoot marathoners!
| 5 Mile | 47:00 |
|---|
9:26
per mile (view kilometer pace)
62 percent
(view time)
3824 out of 7549
1812 out of 4632 Females
83 out of 276 Females in the F5054 Age Groupand I passed 581 runners overall and was passed by only 36 overall.
Yup ...just pretty dang proud of myself!!!!
And without knowing it,this was the 30th anniversary of the Twin Cities Marathon...
What a smiley way to celebrate 30 years of running!!
Run :))) always!
