Such fun!

Ok, despite the lack of actual "PASTA" at the end of Pints to Pasta this year, and the fact that the t-shirts were down-graded from cool-ass cool-max technical long sleeved adidas tops to plain old cotton ts, PtP is really one of the best run races I've ever participated in. Both years have been great... this year I had a BLAST.

My friends Alissa, Leah, Jen, her friend Laura and DW were all there. It was SO much warmer this year at the start, so I dumped my tights for shorts, and threw everything into the clothes check and we headed to the start line. I was a bit back from the start and we didn't take off until about 8:04 am, but no one cared. I was SUPPOSED to find Hollie at the start handing out Widmer temporary tatoos, but she was no-where to be found. It turns out she had to drive down to the finish line to pick up race-numbers for a few dork-butts (including DW) who decided not to read the instructions and drove directly to the start without picking up their numbers.

I grabbed about 1/2 a cup of coffee... used the portapotty and we assmbled for the start. Alissa told me that I HAD to run my own pace because she'd hurt herself and Leah said she'd be running with Alissa so after a little debate and being pissed that I'd forgotten the ear-buds for my i-pod I decided to run it for myself. I stuck with A and L for the first half mile and then I took off. I was bound and determined to cross the finish line faster than I did last time(1:01:02). My fore-runner kept my pace in check... showed me when I needed to speed my butt up really!

I flew down Greeley toward the first aid station (mile two) in front of the Widmir Brewery and as I'm comming down the stretch I see a crazy woman with braids in her hair. She looks at me, we lock eyes and she SCREAMS "BRENNA" at the top of her lungs!!!! I GRIN and SCREAM "HOLLIE" right back at her! We screamed a few more times as I approached her and she had me give her a high-five as I passed... it was an AWESOME energy boost to have someone scream my actual NAME during a race. I walked about 15 paces thru the first aid station and gulped down a powerade... I was PUMPED so I kicked it up and headed over the steel bridge and down to the waterfront. I am SO on the Hollie Teal Cheering Squad for the marathon this year!!!

Mile 5 is always a tough mile for me mentally during a race and true-to form my right foot started cramping in the arch as I passed the 4mile marker. The second aid station was at mile 5 and I walked thru it as well because I simply can not drink and run at the same time. Another poweraid down and the mental fog lifted and it was on to the finish line.

And then she started talking to me... a very nice woman on the course started pacing right next to me and asking me questions... and I think it slowed me down... I didn't look at my forerunner enough, but I know I should have... ah well... as we closed in on the old spaghetti factory I lengthened my pace and really pushed it across the finish line... and as I crossed I looked at the official race clock and shouted "FUCK!" as I saw the time tick over to 1:01:11. NINE SECONDS SLOWER than last year. FUCK FUCK FUCK!!! Hollie and DW ran up to me and screamed and gave me high-fives! DW finished in about 51minutes (awesome!).

I stopped the timer on my forerunner as I crossed the line tho and it said 1:00:56... DAMNIT!!! I grabbed a couple of cups of water, and ran back to the finish line to cheer in Alissa and Leah who came in around the 1:07:00... very very cool, especially since Alissa had said she wasn't going to run the whole thing (the big liar!)!!

Overall I'm pretty contented with my performance... I know I could have gone faster if I'd found DW to run with but he's MUCH faster than I am, and probably would have held him back... I might have gone a little faster if I'd had my iPod to carry me... but again, no luck. I did get to hang and chat with Hollie and DW and the girls after the race, had some soup and a couple of beers, heard the awards and then drove DW back to his car at the start line. I am going to try to hook up with Hollie to do some of the "stay-fit" stuff with the "portland-fit" club over the winter... I know it will be good for me to keep the running thru the winter (which I didn't really do last year), so I'm looking forward to that too.

I didn't run all week due to stress and emotional turmoil, but I feel good today... feel like I accomplished somthing today. One of these days I'll hit a sub-hour 10k... but I guess it'll have to wait till next year.

I'm back on track. I'm starting an eating challenge tomorrow (no white sugar, white flour or cheese) and it WILL get better from there... because it has to, I have no where to go but up.

:D

Posted by Lexy at September 12, 2004 03:51 PM