In case you find yourself on the near west side of Cleveland on Saturday morning around 10 a.m., wander down to Washington Ave. and West 25th, where the St. Malachi race finishes at the top of an impressive (and, I anticipate, painful) hill.When I received my reminder email for the run on Saturday, I checked out the route map for the 5-mile race and thought, “what am I getting myself into?”
Looking at the route on a map makes it seem so much longer than five miles anywhere else has felt. Perhaps it's because I know the area too well. At least the scenery won’t be bad.
But I'll just file this fear with all the other irrational fears and objections I've fabricated over the past two weeks. I'll charge my iPod battery, put together an awesome playlist and tie my shoes well. I'm also still crossing my fingers for that decent weather. Have you been doing your part to slow the rain clouds? Help a girl out!
2 comments:
Hi there! Thanks for the shoutout a couple of posts ago!
I just wanted to ease your fears a bit. The last hill is paved and isn't too bad in terms of footing. It's not the steepiest hill ever either. You'll be so happy to see the finish you won't care much about it. Don't sweat it!
Since this is your first race, look at it as a learning experience. You will learn so much from this race that you'll be able to use in future races--including the iron man. You'll definitely finish it--I mean, come on! You run an hour at a time covering much more ground than five miles! So, the key is to get the most out of the experience. None of us is going to the olympics anytime soon so that's all any of us can really aim to do. And whatever time you run will be a PR!
In my first real race, a half-marathon last year, I did all kinds of stupid things like talking to everyone, pushing too hard too soon, and drinking gatorade when I never drank while running before. I ended up with a horrible stitch at mile 10 and I actually stopped and walked. I got it together and ended up finishing over a minute faster than I had originally aspired to. I never would have guessed it would go down like that before the race. I figured if something went bad, then I would also run a horrible time. I thought to run my goal time everything had to be perfect. All kinds of good, bad, weird, or wonderful stuff that you can't possible foresee now can happen. So, clear your head, show up tomorrow, and put one foot in front of the other and so on and so forth and deal with each bump in the road (or pothole) as it happens and relax and enjoy every minute of this new experience!
Good luck!!! Maybe I'll see you there!
PS By way of illustration, for whatever it's worth, I dug up a link to the post I wrote before my first race (it might be a little TMI, sorry!): http://publicblogsarebad.blogspot.com/2006/05/hi-there-rain-cloud-whats-up.html
and here's what I wrote about it after (it's the last paragraph): http://publicblogsarebad.blogspot.com/2006/05/mays-triangle-round-up.html
Hi G. Last chance to say Good Luck tomorrow and most importantly to Have Fun!
I hope you sleep well tonight. (Thanks for the link yesterday.)
For good sleep it always helps to take a hot shower or bath right before turning in, and keeping your room temperature coool. A low dose aspirin or two wouldn't hurt either to get you relaxed.
And don't eat anything close to bedtime. (Nothing after 7 p.m. if you can help it)
It sounds like this race is going to be a fun and festive time. Salty One had sage advice. Just run YOUR race and learn from it.
Cheers!
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