Title 9k+ Mother’s Day Race Report

I had the BEST time ever at the Title 9k+ Mother’s Day race yesterday.  It was a mix of a lot of factors, but they all came together and culminated in a fantastic, memorable race.  This course was measured at 9.9K, just meters shy of a full 10K.

The morning dawned bright and sunny, and by 9 AM it was a warm 55 degrees.  I wore purple shorts and an almost neon-green tech t-shirt that would be easily seen by my family when I came down the race shoot.  My hair was tied up in pig-tails on either side of my head; another dead give-away for my spectator family.  No hat; I learned my lesson two years ago when a gust of wind blew over the water and ripped the hat from my head.  For this race, sunglasses and sunscreen sufficed.

We got to the race by 8:15 and met my friend Elorie at packet pick-up.  Her two girls were thrilled to see my two kids, and they immediately took off playing.  Bill was going to watch the kids while she and I raced; a perfect Mother’s Day present.  I got my bib and goody bag and decided between an X-small or Medium shirt (all the Smalls were gone).  The X-small fit okay; I’ll just have to be careful to always line-dry it after washing it in cold.  No matter.

Once we had our bibs, we gradually made our way over to the corrals.  The start line was in the same place as the finish line this year; we would be making a 360 degree loop.  I picked a place near the 7-minute sign a volunteer was holding.  Elorie wanted to go to the 9-minute pace but I wouldn’t let her.  I just had a feeling about this one; we were going to rock.

Everyone was so HAPPY at the starting line!  The race staff was laughing and bobbing around, the volunteers were perky and giddy, and the women were as bouncy as teenagers.  Granted, there were some teenagers, but they weren’t nearly as bouncy as the Mom’s!

The starting horn sounded, I punched my Garmin and we were off.  Elorie decided she would stick with me as long as she could before dropping back.  Since I didn’t have a goal time in mind, we decided to make it up as we went along.  What freedom, to give yourself permission to ENJOY the race.

The course was packed dirt roads the entire way around.  Some areas were heavily rutted, other places were just slightly tippy the way a good dirt road gets after a long wet winter.  After the first kilometer people had pretty well sorted themselves out; some in front of us, most of them behind.  I checked my Garmin: 7:16 pace.

We hit the first hill and stopped talking.  Elorie was holding strong and I listened to her breathe.  She’s an amazing mountain biker, a pixie of a woman that has so much inner strength it fairly radiates from every follicle on her body.  Neither of us has been running steadily, so we figured we were perfectly suited to pulling out all the stops and just letting ‘er rip.  Mile 2: 7:32.

The road flattened briefly, then we started another small but steady incline.  A few people dropped back and a few came up from behind.  The first water station was just ahead.  “You thirsty?” I asked Elorie.  “Nope, I’m good,” she replied.  We kept going.

We crested the last hill and it was easy going the rest of the way.  The marker for 5 km was just ahead and I checked my watch.  The time was 22:34.  I did quick math and figured that this pace, I’d pull into the finish shoot right around 45 minutes.  Wow.  That was a lot faster than I though I was running.  Cool.

Elorie dropped back.  A few minutes later I turned to see her and she waved.  I waved back and kept moving.  We were running our own races now and I decided to just open up the legs and let it fly.  No holding back, leave it all on the course.  It was Mother’s Day, MY day, and I was giving it everything because I could.

The minutes ticked by and the km markers came at regular intervals.  My Garmin paces remained strong: anywhere between 6:45 and 7:26.  Somewhere around km 7 I heard the sound of a small body coming up from behind.  Looking over my shoulder I saw a cute little girl, maybe 10 years old, running like only she could.  Her legs turned over easily, her face was flushed with exertion, and she easily passed me.  I briefly considered anchoring to her and letting her pull me in, but decided that would probably kill me.  I was going fast, but not that fast.  Later I found out she beat me by a good two minutes.

I decided that since I was running so strong during the race that I wouldn’t try to push pace or sprint until the last kilometer.  Once I hit km 9 I’d sprint, but not before.

And there it was.  9 km and the road turned slightly, opening into a gradual downhill.  It was as though the gods knew I was running and created the perfect course for Lara.  A spectator had walked back from the finish line and said that we were in the top 40 finishers… suddenly I wanted to be closer to the top 30.  A little competitive itch hit and I knew how to pass those ladies.

I opened up the legs, leaned back just a hair and ran.  I sprinted towards the finish line and heard them cheering.  One little girl pointed at me and said “She’s fast!”  I don’t know about that, but I was absolutely loving every single second of running on this course, this day, at this moment. 

I ran under the clock and noticed it said 45-something.  The volunteers were saying “slow down, slow down” and then someone put a finisher’s necklace in my hand.  I grabbed a water bottle and went back to wait for Elorie; a short wait, as she was less than two minutes behind me. The kids and Bill came screaming over to us and Connor pounced on me, saying “You’re the best Mommy” over and over again.

My official time was 45:21, with a 7:24 pace overall.  I was 9^th in my age group and 33^rd overall in a field of about 1875 finishers. 

Note:  I felt great the rest of the day, a runner’s high that lasted until I went to bed.  The one thing that was a little weird was that my kidneys seemed to shut down.  It was really hard to get the fluids to pass all the way through my body, and my stomach cramped up about six hours later and got really bloated.  It seems directly related to the race, my speed and lactic acid, though I don’t know enough about super-fast racing to know how to prevent this from happening again.  Anyone?  Suggestions?