Double Race Report - two 5 milers in one week

Member

Both races were sabotaged by pain and a serious lack of training due to recent medical issues, but I made it through them both.

06/15: Father's Day 5 Miler at the Jersey Shore. The day looked promising, with a slight reprieve in the heat and humidity. The Paramedic came to take pictures, and my parents attended their first road race. I was in so much pain I, for the first time, seriously decided to DNF, by mile 2 no less. But I kept plogging along because I had no idea where the finish line and salvation was. I was forced to walk a lot, about a mile total, but did manage to finish.

The Paramedic has been to a few of my races, including my very first, and he said my finish looked supah strong. A little water, TLC, and Gatorade got me back to feeling normal after being dizzy and nauseous from the effort. Definitely not a PR, but I was happy to be out on the road and to have not given into my DNF decision. This race will go down as the least enjoyable for me evah.

06/20: Media 5 Miler, Media, PA. Also not a PR, but I had a blast! Due to a bogus accident (you know the kind: traffic backed up for miles, teensy accident, then the road clears and you go from 5mph to 60 Evil or Very Mad

) and the monsoon-like weather conditions, I arrived at the race late. Ran to get my chip and bib #, ran to the start where there no longer was a mat as the race had started eight minutes before. By now I was drenched due to the torrential downpour, and just decided to have fun.

I had more fun at this race, despite the pain I felt, than I've had with running in a long time. Except for when the supah fast winnahs passed by me on their second loop, I had the whole race course to myself. Until I hit mile 2 (the winner's mile 4), people thought I was the actual winner! My MP3 player died within the first mile (as I'd had no time to check the battery), so I got to hear the sound of the rain, the spectators, and the policeman who followed me in his car from the start to the 4.5 mark. Within a minute of the start, the cop said, "OK, Lauri, we're going to get through this together. Don't worry about your safety, I'll be right behind you." Because he know my name, I thought it might be Joe helping with the race but later realized the awesome race organizers had radioed in my name and bib # to know that when I passed, THEN the cleanup could begin.

The crowd support for this, despite the rain, was phenomenal. "GO #169! LOOKING GOOD! LOOKING STRONG!" was shouted at me again and again. A little kid screamed, "KEEP GOING - YOU'RE WINNING!" I kept running, through the pain, because I didn't want to let these mistaken people down. I ran the whole race with a smile on my face due to these comments and those of the policeman behind me, who kept telling me where to turn, which side of the road to be on, and that I was looking good.

At mile 3.5: "OK ma'am, for the rest of the race, run on the left if you want, run on the right if you want, or run smack down the middle of the road. The rest of this race, the road belongs to you." How often do you hear THAT at a race? Not only did I hoodwink the crowd into believing I was the winner, but I had my own personal police escort for safety and encouragement!

At mile 4.5 I came up on 2 other runners. The woman, not realizing of course that I had started really late, kept encouraging me to run with them. "Come on, run with us, we can finish this together." Once they started to walk again, I overcame them. The po-po said goodbye, that he would stay with the couple. I waved and took the final turn to the finish line where I wasn't in last place even!

The Paramedic stood in the rain and watched me. As I passed at mile 3, he saw me sludging past with the po-po (lights on and all) in tow. He saw me finish, and said my last half mile looked stronger than the earlier part of the race. I guess despite everything, I am still competitive and in pretty good condition.

So I ran through pain, through puddles and street rivers, through elation of actually running nonstop, save 30 seconds of walking upon the biggest hill, through this supah hilly race. I ran through cheers from spectators, from fellow participants who finished way ahead of me, and from my own personal po-po. My guntime obviously sucked, and my chiptime wasn't much better (a full minute slower than the race 5 days earlier), but I didn't care. This race will go down as the most enjoyable for me evah.

Medical issues hopefully resolved on 6/21; next up: Bronx Half with monk on 7/6. After a forced running break for the next week or so, it won't be pretty, but will be much less painful. As always, thanks for indulging me.

Excelent

No traffic tickets this time?

Member

Proud of you, el!

The Pinball

as always,

holy crap. Shocked

(Uncle Sam wants YOU) Wink

what medical issues???? injury??? i've been away. Embarassed

kudos to the paramedic too.

Member

Way to go. Bonus with a friendly po-po escort Wink

Member

Admit it,.......you have a thing for men in blue don't you??????? Way to hang in there, I don't think i would have started a race 8 minutes after the gun went off. That's pure class, congrats on not finishing last too, that is a heckof a lot of time to make up on someone.

Adjunct

yeah Lauri

Member

i'm just impressed you raced twice in one week! That's crazy! You persevered through the hardship of the races and in the end that will make you a better runner. Good job despite the obstacles you had to face.

Shelly

Member

So does anything DULL ever happen to you or what??!!! Shocked

Great job on that first race, elkiddio...Moments like that don't build character...they SHOW it. Mr. Green

joel

Member

Great race reports! Glad you hung in the first one, and the second one sounds like tons of fun despite everything!

Member

Excelent

What took longer the race or writing the report

Double Race Report - two 5 milers in one week

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