Just yesterday it was made apparent that a big mistake had been made. The big mistake was made clear to us when the WOW Motors president came to Hulk’s to see how our renovations were going and came to collect his racing pack for today’s race. I reached into my box of racing packs, and instantly noticed something wrong. Somewhere in between him mentioning to me he wanted to do the half and telling Snickers he’d do the 10km, he had been registered to do the half marathon. With one simple mistake his race distance had just been more than doubled and I felt terrible. It was an unfortunate mistake but one I was quick to discover we could actually correct. A friend of mine who was scheduled to run the 10km race could no longer participate. She had a knee injury from a previous race – a half marathon she had just completed. So with a 10km racing bib available for him to use, we could thankfully correct our error. I made the suggestion to him and joked with him about it, telling him that he should be happy to wear my foreign friend’s name on his chest. “She’s so pretty and that makes you so lucky!” In the end however, he ended up sticking with doing the half marathon.
Today the massive crew of us loaded into cars and headed off for A Day At the Races – Round Two. We arrived to the location of the races – Sangrok Restort in Cheonan – and were greeted by hundreds of people all participating in the races. Today a 5km, 10km, half marathon and full marathon were being hosted. There were eight us of doing the half, much more than last year’s crew but I was the only female amongst us so I was pretty proud of that.
My initial plan was to search out the 1:40 pacing balloon and follow behind it. My goal for my half marathon was to keep my pacing under the 5min/km mark, finish at 1 hour and 45 minutes, so to do so I’d have to keep that 1:40 pacing balloon close by. All hopes of that crashed and burned right before the race even began. Mouse Doctor was running the half with me, as was WOW Motors President. They had suggested me run with them and we all run with the 1:40 pacing balloon. Well, right at the start line Mouse Doctor decided to duck into the bathroom so I followed but when I came out he was nowhere to be found, nor was our pacing balloon. I found the WOW Motors President though so he told me he’d act as my pace maker. I was appreciative of that, overly appreciative, but I knew it meant I was in for quite the hard half marathon because he usually runs around the 4min/km mark.
For the first 4kms we were running well beyond a pacing that was comfortable for me and this continued well into the 8th kilometer. I was convinced we were way ahead of schedule and that the kilometers were just flying by but it was rough, beyond rough. I’m always telling my clients to train outside of their comfort level and I knew well enough that today’s pacing was way out of my comfort level.
I was continually distracted with my own frustrations regarding not being able to see any pacing balloons. I definitely felt an additional stress from all the stares and reactions of onlookers I got. I was one of 35 females doing the half and this got me a lot of attention out on the route. Moreover, having WOW Motors President run beside me was just as incredibly helpful as it was intimidating. Unlike Moon Towers who once posed a half marathon time challenge and offered me two grand if I met it, I felt the pressure for me to succeed in this half marathon was far greater. Sure WOW Motors President hadn’t offered me any kind of prize money but my pride and me as an investment was on the line, or so it felt, so in a way I was running for a $50,000 prize.
When I passed Mouse Doctor at the 8km mark, I got a wave of confidence which was just what I needed to get myself through to the halfway marker and up the grueling hill that was to follow. Black Skinny passed me at the start but I had passed all the others but WOW Motors President who continued running beside me so it was awesome to cheer them on and exchange high fives.
I always find it hilarious just how many other runners talk to me when I’m participating in a race. There I was, huffing and puffing, killing myself out on the route while runner after runner approached to question me or pass on a comment or two. Today I counted 9 people who talked to me. Most of them questioned me about the “Don’t make me angry!” Korean translation on my t-shirt back or the fact that Hulk’s Boxing was written across it. One guy recognized me from last year’s race while another guy recognized me from my involvement with boxing.
I appreciated the distraction – people talking to me – but it was so hard not to become overly consumed with counting the kilometers and looking ahead for the next kilometer marker sign.
At the 18km mark, WOW Motors President stopped dead in his tracks. He had a side stitch that he had to stretch out a bit and massage. I had stopped with him but he insisted I continue on without him. I really didn’t want to do so. He had helped me for 18kms and I really didn’t want to leave him with only 3kms left. It’s rather ironic too because I had continually told him that if I was slowing him down that I wouldn’t mind if he left me and went on without me. Now it was me leaving him. I felt bad doing so.
No sooner had I started on by myself but then an older man who had been running right behind us caught up with me and told me he’d run with me. It was super nice of him though I must note I almost got a side stitch with him continually grunting at me to run harder. I didn’t know if he was trying to be funny or not but I did like the company.
When we turned the final bend and headed up the last remaining 300 meters or so, my new running partner yelled at me, “Go… go victory!”, and with that I dashed for the finish line. My legs were aching, my side felt all knotted up, and my head was dizzy. I had puked a bit at the 17km mark and felt light headed but now with only 300 meters left I somehow managed to give a bit more than I thought I could. I don’t know if it was that older man yelling at me that pushed me forward or if the thought of finally finishing was just so overwhelming but I did it. I sprinted to the finish line and finished.
Long after the races had all finished and everyone was now at home, I still hadn’t received my finish time text message from the racing company. All my friends had received theirs but not me. I had an idea of my finish time but it wasn’t the result time I had trained for and that wasn’t a good thing.
I knew I had given my all and I don’t know where I could have given more. I had been doing weekly short and long runs, of which I must note I never felt much muscle stiffness in my legs afterward. Moreover, my body had never felt as uncomfortable as it did today. My longest practice run was 21.01km and I had done it at a pacing of 5:08min/km, clocking in at 1:47:54. And though I never did get my result time today, I knew I hadn’t beat my personal best so the rest of my day was filled with frustration and over analyzing my run. I can only hope now that I wasn't the only female in the half marathon who had a bad run. I guess we'll see when the rankings get posted online later this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment