I ran 5.2 miles yesterday! And I did it without walking at all. I wasn’t sure I had it in me, seeing as how I’ve never run further than 4.2 miles in my life.
Badassfitness.com put on an impromptu race here in Tallahassee to raise money fit the Boston Red Cross. The 5.2 miles represent the final 5.2 miles that many runners in the Boston Marathon could not finish due to the terrorist bombings. After the bombs went off, the majority of the remaining runners were stopped at mile 21. We wanted to finish the race for them. The race raised over $12K which is awesome since there wasn’t an entry fee and they were only accepting voluntary donations.
The organizer said when she set this up, they expected about 50 people. What they got was over a thousand!
When I started the race, I tried to set my pace around 12 minutes per mile in order to conserve enough energy to run the entire way. But initially I was caught in the crowd and was running at just over 10 minutes per mile. Eventually the crowd spread out and I was able to slow my pace.
The first 2 miles were pretty easy for me even though there were some hills. I hit mile 2 at about 22 minutes into the race. Soon I came up on mile marker 3 and started getting a cramp in my side. I pressed on. About 3.5 miles into the run, I started getting occasional chills. Not bad, but it was odd because it was 80 degrees and a little humid. But I kept on.
Throughout the run I was caught amidst some runners using the run/walk method. So one minute they’d be passing me, then soon I’d be passing them as they slowed to walk. I don’t know why but I found that to be kind of annoying.
Eventually, around 4 and a half miles into the run and nearing the end there was one final hill. It was a long and climbing hill. The majority of the runners around me decided to walk up it instead of running. But I couldn’t stop now. I’d come this far. I’d already surpassed my longest running distance ever (4.2 miles). So I dug deep and thought about those poor victims in Boston. That was enough to ignite me up that hill and fortunately away from those run/walkers.
Soon after, we turned the corner and I could see the finish line. As I passed the 5 mile marker I could see the faster runners who already finished were all waiting at the finish line cheering the rest of us on. No way in hell was I going to stop now. In fact I actually found some hidden energy to pick up my pace, stand up tall and run across that finish line.
It was an awesome feeling to know I ran that far and never walked. And even more awesome to see the community come together for such a great cause. I celebrated last night by having some Barnaby’s pizza, but the good karma I put in at the race gave back as I’m now down to 216.8 pounds! One third of the way to my FitBet goal!
SDV
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