After over 60 races and many 4th place finishes I can finally say I won an individual award! I took 3rd place in the 40-49 age group with a 26:02 gun time. Not bad for an old lady! :)
Dannika took 5th place in her 9-13 age group with a 35:06. Being that she played an indoor soccer game followed by a track meet and got home around 7:30 the night before I think she did amazing!!! Mike paced her and tried to get her through the very hot and humid conditions and was able to get her to finish so strong at the end that I wasn't able to capture her finisher pic. Bummer.
As for me, it was a pretty ironic race. I had shared with my 1st grade summer school class on Friday that I had ran many races but have never been able to win. Then on Saturday, I was talking story with some of the Track peeps and again told them how I run races but never win. One of them women who I talked to told me that I needed to figure out who was in my age group and make sure that I passed them on my run. Little did I know that that piece of advice would be the best ever given to me.
Sunday morning rolled around and I struggled with the wake up. I told myself that I was so over early morning races but I somehow got ready, got Dannika ready, and we were out the door. We got to the Ala Moana Park with log time, found a great parking, got our timing chips and used the bathroom. As usual Dannika was excited to be a part of the race. We lined up at the start and she told me, "Bye mommy, see you later." The siren went off and I started to run. This course through Sand Island and Ala Moana Beach Park is not the easiest. There are a lot of turns, narrow corridors, sand, cars, and other hazards. I went out fast with the real racers but once I got through half of Sand Island settled into an 8:20 pace. Being a little over weight (ok, a lot) has been tortuous for me and I had to work to maintain that pace. All around me I was hearing runners breathe hard and I reminded myself that I should be breathing hard too. You see, I am a real cruiser of a runner and I rarely put myself in that "breathing hard mode." Anyhow, I told myself to "breathe hard" and I rallied to keep up with the runners around me. As usual I picked a couple of runners that I wanted to stay with and eventually pass and I was able to keep that going throughout the first mile. At about 1.2 mile and the water stop there was a runner down on the ground and I slowed a bit. This has been happening way too much on my races (every race) and it always rattles me. I pushed on after that and tried to keep her out of my mind. I stayed with my pack and passed a few of the runners I had targeted. At the 2nd mile there was some bottle necking going on and I fought hard to weave and pass. After we made the turn back into the park I told myself to start pushing and began to put myself to work. At mile 2.5 I remembered my sage advice from yesterday and spotted a woman that looked like she could be my age. I told myself that I had to dig deep and pass her so I pushed hard for the last 1/2 mile. As I neared the finish line I glanced at the clock and was a little pissed that I was going to be over the 26 minute mark (although that was the time I was shooting for) and pushed as hard as I could to the finish. I was incredibly winded which is not something I ever am at any race (not even marathons) and I was drenched in sweat. I walked over the finishing times and was elated to see that I came in 3rd place, a mere 2 seconds faster than the woman I had passed (I was glad I could spot a 40 something woman). I then waited by the finish line to get pictures of Dannika and Mike.
After the race was done we headed to Ryan's Grill for my first ever Awards Ceremony and I was so incredibly stoked when I saw the beautiful plaque I was going to win. A part of my was paranoid thinking that they had made a mistake and I wasn't going to win the award so when they called my name I was crazy elated.
It was truly the #bestraceever
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