Nutrition, Running, Races in Virginia and things to do over the long weekend- these were the series of searches that led me to the page where I filled out a quick online registration form and completed an online transaction. Before I knew I was enrolled for American Family fitness 8th Annual 10k.
The prospect of taking part in a 10k over the long weekend seemed easy like an easy enough way to expose myself to race conditions especially the idea of running on a coldish morning.
As an assurance to myself that I could do it, I ran a fast (by my standards) 10k in the hotel gym that night. I clocked a time of around 59 mins or so and I hoped I could replicate this time on the race day.
A couple of days before the race day, I bought some stuff that I would need for the race- energy gels, running socks, a new t-shirt and running shorts.
The day before the race, I made sure that I had everything laid out and in place so as to have no last minutes surprises. I had a normal dinner and slept really early (around 10 pm) as I knew I would have to be up by 630 am the other day.
I reached the venue about an hour before the start time of 9 am and completed the registration. It was fairly cool when I reached there but the sun was shining through and I knew instantly that this would be a good day for running. The songs being played on the loud speakers were among my favorites and I knew this was a good sign.
I was still very confused on what would be a good finishing time- I didn't just want to run for the sake of finishing only and at the same time I didn't want to exhaust myself midway in the race. I voiced my concern to the kindly gentleman at the registration booth and after a quick analysis of my running history for the past 3 months, he suggested that I aim for a finish time of 55 mins which seemed like a long shot to me really. I smiled and reached the start point.
The start wasn't ideal to say the least- my heart started beating really loud, I had a feeling that my legs had frozen and my iPod wouldn't start. And then in the midst of all this confusion and the mini disasters, we were off. The first few minutes up to the 1st mile marker were a haze- labored breathing, an obstinate iPod, me dropping money, people overtaking- it just seemed too much.
Sense started knocking into my system after the first water stop- i slowed down a little, my iPod started blaring out music again, my breathing returned to its normal agitated levels and I was off. In spite of all this I had covered the 1st mile in less than 8 minutes. No need to get excited I told myself-the first mile is carried by the adrenaline. So i put my head down and ran- not looking for the next mile marker but looking at my feet. 16 mins 7 second and I was at the 2nd mile marker- not bad I gloated to myself and at the next second I admonished myself- the race isn't over I kept reminding myself. I reached mile 3 at 24 mins 30 seconds and mile 4 at 32 mins.
Between mile 4 and 5, I encountered a steep upward slope. My only impressions of that slope were heavy breathing, most inappropriate love songs playing on my iPod when I could have done with really peppy and lifting music ( i was playing on shuffle mode) and like a million people crossing me. Finally I reached mile 5 and I was surprised that I hadn't taken ages to reach it. My watch timed me at 40 minutes
I was thrilled- I could actually complete this under an hour and thats when out of nowhere panic and self-doubt kicked in. My mind got clouded with the most bizarre questions- is this a 10K race or a 10 mile race? Have I completed 5 miles (ie around 8 kms) or just 5 kms? Why do they have mile markers for a 10K race? Do we have to run the same distance back to finish this race? Thankfully this endless maze of questions was broken by an over-enthusiastic volunteer whose cheering (or at least some words) I could hear over the music in my ears and confusion in my head. Did she just say across the corner- Am I there already? Sure enough, I saw the finish line and the large digital timer in the corner of my eye. I veered around the corner and covered the last few metres as fast as my legs could carry. I wanted to beat the 52 min mark.
And it was over- almost an anti-climax. There was no wild pumping of the fist, no leaping in the air, no welling up of eyes or any show of emotion.
There was just a silent prayer and an acknowledgement that a small but significant milestone had been reached.
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