Tales of Slow Brave Athena

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December 12, 2004

Success comes in strange packages

This morning was chilly (49) and windy. My sweetie warned me that Vancouver (the suburb to the north) was clocking 60mph winds. Oh, no big deal!

I got down to the World Trade Center (here in downtown Portland), to encounter a big crowd of shivering people decked in really crazy holiday gear. Many people wore santa hats, or weird variants on santa hats, or reindeer antlers, or had some other holiday schtick. Many dogs were there, decked in fairy lights or antlers or really adorable sweaters.I'm a bah-humbug kinda girl, so I was not expecting to enjoy this aspect of the race. But it was great, and I was really into it, even though I was in head-to-toe black.

To try to keep warm, I did some hamstring stretches, and some of the other stretches that Philip Dunn had taught us. My right hamstring has been a little tight since the workshop, and I didn't want it to give me any trouble during the race.

Finally, the Red-nosed run deer race began. I had emailed the organizer to be sure that someone as slow as me would still have a finish line to cross, and he assured me that it would be so, so I had signed on for the 10K. I started at the back, and after about 3 or 4 blocks it was clear that I was going to be the last finisher. I've never been in a situation like this: there are always people to beat. And not only was I last, but I was significantly behind the next person.

I thought, momentarily, about dropping out. Then I thought, who cares, really? Someone has to be last in every race, so why not me this time? So I decided to just have a good time, and see how I'd do. I talk a lot about how racing, when you're my speed, is really a competition against myself—it's time to really walk that talk.

So, being last didn't really freak me out that much, or really at all, though not being able to pace myself with others was. Usually, I'm keeping someone in my sights and checking my heart rate monitor in the beginning, and then there's the ignore the heart rate monitor and pass people phase. Both of these are reliant on other people. How would I do? There were no signs of distance posted, so I decided to not look at the time at all, just at my heart rate. And for whatever reason, I couldn't get my heart rate below 70%.

So we went north on Front (Naito) to the Steel Bridge, went south on Front until we came to the Barbur Blvd junction, then north on Barbur until it turned into Fourth, and then east down the Harrison hill, and back north onto Front. In a twist of cruelity, you pass the turnoff for the finish line to do another loop to the Steel Bridge.

I got lots of support. Runners, going in the opposite direction, cheered me on, as did volunteers and motorists and random strangers. That hamstring was tight, but otherwise I felt great, and had an ear-to-ear grin for most of the distance.

Coming up the hill at the Barbur junction, a woman ran down to walk up with me. Her name was Rachel, and she told me about how the race came to be. There was a guy in the ultra community here named Scott who was very active, and reasonably young. After crossing the finish line at one, he keeled over. He had a daughter, Shannon, who was close to college age, and so the community came together to throw this race to raise money for her education. It also raises food for the Oregon Food Bank, and cash for NW Medical Teams. It's a great reflection of the ultra folks that they are taking care of their own!

Rachel was charming, and sweet, and had a lovely British accent to boot, and it was nice to chat with her. Once we got to Barbur, I said goodbye, but she drove by several times, cheering me on!

Portland's finest looked after me too. A motorcycle cop checked up on me multiple times. Unfortunately, at this point, the roads were open, so I had to wait for lights to change (!!!).

I roared down the Harrison Hill, turned the corner, and was ready to speed into the finish line—and then I realized that while I probably could have gotten away with turning and crossing the finish line, it wouldn't be the full 10K, so I continued moving quickly towards the Steel Bridge turnaround. I had just passed the one bit of music on the route, a young man drumming on plastic pails (he was great, too), when I realized I heard the sound of someone behind me. Huh? It was one of the PFit walking coaches, come to walk me in.

So that was great! We chatted about partners and strategies, and she remarked that I had gotten significantly faster and fitter and thinner—that she hadn't recognized me when I had walked past. Well, whuhoo, then! And before I knew it, I was crossing the finish line. I raised my arms triumphantly and shouted, I'm the last one! Mela and some other PFitters cheered me on.

Then I looked at my watch. I finished in 1:30:14, which is a 14:30 pace. Damn! May I just say, damn?! Depending on which stats you look at, my last 5K was done at 13.89 or 14.58 pace. While my heart rate was up, I didn't feel like I was working all that hard for the most of the race, unlike the last 5K where I really was working hard the whole time. Yippee!

So. I finished last, and I totally enjoyed it, and I PRed. Who knew?

Posted at December 12, 2004

Comments

Posted by: susan at December 12, 2004 2:16 PM

Posted by: Marshall at December 12, 2004 2:46 PM

Posted by: jdz at December 12, 2004 3:25 PM

Posted by: Jon in Michigan at December 13, 2004 4:00 AM

Posted by: Mia at December 13, 2004 7:22 AM

Posted by: Rebecca at December 13, 2004 11:13 AM

Posted by: Lynne at December 14, 2004 6:30 AM

Posted by: vj at December 14, 2004 10:10 AM