Johnny Cake 5 mile

This is the 4th time I have run this race (I think).  I ran my 2nd fastest time unintentionally on the course, which sounds good but the truth is the other times were when my anemia was in full effect.

It had only been one week since the half ironman and my workouts consisted of 6 miles of running in 2 days.  I was super excited and stoked I would undoubtedly PR (NOT!).  I had worked late like usual Friday and Saturday night, so draggin my ass out of bed at 6:30am to drive to Mentor/Painesville was almost as hard as the 5th mile of the race that day, but this was a big race for my team and I felt obligated to participate.  I love Achilles, the owners are personal friends and wonderful runners themselves. 

I arrived at 8:00am with only 30 minutes to grab my packet and go to the bathroom (OF COURSE!), but the line was huge.  I was out and on my way to the start line by about 8:25.  The weather was way too hot for me.  I had no intention of doing a warm-up.  Five miles would be plenty for me.  I felt run down and knew I had a fun, fun day of studying ahead of me.  I did see BD and E-speed right before the start and got to wish them both luck.  It seemed we all new the weather was going to make this race a little more miserable than usual. 

When the race started, everyone took off...FAST!  I got passed and passed.  My main goal was to negative split every mile (except for 2, which has the hill).  I figured starting off at a slower than normal effort would ensure my plan. 

Mile 1 was tight with all the construction barrels and I heard the timer yell out "8:12!!"  Eeeeekkkk!!!  I could only laugh at my suckiness.  Between the heat, my lack of training and my poopedness -- I was literally a "hot mess."

Mile 2 has the only climb in the race and I took it nice and easy.  Some people around me charged up the hill like angry bulls and others were breathing like they were in labor.  I wasn't doing either so I took that as a sign that I was right where I needed to be.  The timer called out "16:30"  Sweet 8:18 for that mile.  I was only 6 seconds slower with the hill, but wait no, no, no that split sucks too. 

I kept thinking I did 20 milers at these paces in the spring (course it was in the 30s and 40s and I was 8 lbs lighter and I was running 50 mpw -- excuses, excuses, excuses).

Mile 3 was flat and slightly downhill with some shade (two of my favorite things).  I saw some of the Mentor cross country girls and one of the parents and I waved and yelled "You guys should be running and suffering too!!"  They replied with lots of cheers and smiles for me.  Mile 3 I think was 24:35, so my split was 8:05, the time was coming down just as planned. 

Mile 4 was forgetable and in the sun and where you begin the long deadly, hot run down Mentor Avenue to the finish and can only think "one more to go after this."  Timer number 4 shouts "32:33", doing the math in my head I realized that was a 7:58.  Finally a sub-8:00.  I was wondering if there were any in my legs today. 

The last mile was the least painful 5th mile I have ever run on this course.  I was running people down one at a time and using that to help stay focused.  I forgot to mention how I had poured water on myself twice during the race to keep cool.  My mom was out of town and not home to remind me that morning to put body glide along my chest where my sports bra rubs and I could feel a burning pain where I had already chafed that morning.  I could see the banner in the distance and passed the 880 marker and then the 440 marker.  I was almost done when a kid next to me started dry heaving.  It was absolutely repulsive and after dealing with vomit, urine and feces at clinicals I wasn't up for it today, so I picked up the pace and purposefully pulled away from the pukemeister. I saw the clock going just passed 40 minutes as I was closing in and I saw 40:20 when I crossed but official time showed 40:24, so that makes my last mile 7:51.  Not to mention, if you look back up at the picture at the top I am CLEARLY way past the finish clock and it only reads 40:22, so how I got moved to 40:24 I don't have a clue, but a crappy time is a crappy time right?

I hung out for about 40 minutes catching up with lots of running buddies and was really happy to hear most of my girlfriends JO, Campy, E-speed and BB had all but cleaned up.  Congrats to all my Female Fasties.  That took a lot of pressure off me to have to win the race that day knowing they had been there ;-)  HA!  I managed to snag some pizza and was on my way back home for a fun filled day of renal diseases.