"I don't know who Mark Remy is, dad." -- Katelyn Kilmer
The day is done.
The ham loaf dad pressed into the shape of a turkey has been put away. The green bean casserole remnants have been scraped from the sides of the baking dish. The pie has been eaten.
And now I have to figure out how to report on today's race.
I had three goals for this morning's race: First to show up. That may sound silly, but it wasn't a given. Second was to finish. And the third was to finish in under than an hour.
This is my only race of 2014. With the dramatic increase in weight I had when first addressing my eating disorder, I wasn't sure I'd get one in this year. I've kept active throughout the year, yes, but I've not pushed it and I've not been consistent. When I decided to run this race, I had less than nine weeks and was well over 300 pounds. Still am, and not just because of turkey day. The point I'm belaboring is I didn't think this would happen today. But it did.
My daughters and I arrived at the gym around 7:45 with plenty of time to mill about, make small talk, and what not. The Stampede always has a great DJ and the songs were energetic. I was all smiles from the moment I arrived. I won't admit to dancing to the tunes, but I won't deny it either. Goal one accomplished.
Soon enough we made our way to the starting area. This race has about 2000 participants from the truly nationally elite to the duffer like me. The 10K runners lined up and were on their way. Then came time for the rest of us, about 1700, to fill the street and ignore all the pre-race instructions. We were to find our pace group with the walkers lining up behind the runners. Ha. Like that ever happens.
I tried to make my way to my pace group, aptly named "Don't know/Don't care" but it was so crowded I didn't make it past the 7 minute mile group before the countdown began. Oops! Well, truth be told, just about everyone 15 feet ahead, behind and all around were walkers so no harm done by me.
And then we were off.
My oldest daughter is still recovering from an injury last summer. Broken toes. She missed most of her cross country season and her coach had told her to rest until winter training for track started in January. None of her xcountry friends wanted to walk the course with her, so she opted to walk beside me as I ran. Since my pace is a 15 minute mile, she could easily keep up with a brisk walk. And this is the first time I had constant company during a race. Bonus!
I planned to run this race with reps of 3 minute runs followed by 2 minute walks. We headed off to downtown, turned north then northwest, crossing over a bridge then a big loop in the historic residential area of Elkhart.
Honestly there isn't much to report about the race it self. There was a light snow which quickly got stamped into a slick surface so I was constantly watching my step. The crowd quickly thinned around me as the runners moved a head, though the walkers did pass me throughout the course. I'm used to it. Thankfully only a few were clueless. I must say, though, that there better be a special place in hell for people who bring their dogs to a race on a 25 foot retractable leash and let the animal run wherever it wants. That made me mad.
I kept to my run ratio though there were times I thought I needed to walk longer. Kate wouldn't hear of it. She kept talking about a gut check and other "tricks of the trade" from xcountry. She was my coach and my cheerleader. We talked during the walks and she encouraged during the runs. Quite often I was surprised how quickly the running sets went! I was so happy to have my daughter along. That alone made this race special.
Too soon we found ourselves back downtown and in the home stretch. I'd promised Kate that I'd push my pace to my limit once the finish line was in sight and I made good on that. I "sprinted" the last 300 yards to the finish line. I passed a walker in the last 2 feet. Goal 2 accomplished.
I checked my watch. 51:18. Goal 3 accomplished.
And I felt good. Damn good.
I ran a Turkey STAMPEDE.
Madi, daughter number 2, had run well ahead of me and was cheering me on at the end, though I did not hear her. Later she told me she had been standing by some spectators that had been making very judgmental and disparaging remarks on several of the runners. She was ready to make a scene if there were comments about the fat man running. Comments such as this has happened before. More than once. I'm glad to say, though, that she did not need to be my champion in this sense. Nor did I hear anything on the course, though I'm sure Kate was also ready to share words if there had been.
We made our way back to the gym just to see who might still be about. People don't tend to hang around at this race as most want to get back to be with friends and family, so we didn't really find anyone we knew. We quickly came to the same decision as those before us and left to get home.
We did not wait in line for bananas.
It was a great run.
Here are my stats:
Time: 51:18
Lap 1: 16:45
Lap 2: 17:52
Lap 3: 16:30
Average pace: 17:00
Best pace: 9:50
Not the most impressive by most of my runner friends' experience but a damn sight better than I thought I could do.
Not the most impressive by most of my runner friends' experience but a damn sight better than I thought I could do.
