What’s next?
Posted by z on October 12, 2009
That was the subject line of an email sent by Susan the day after the Danskin. What does she mean “what’s next”? Healing, perhaps. Resting, maybe. No, none of that. She wants us to sign up for the Trek Triathlon scheduled one month away. Unfortunately, Morrie and I had already committed to running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k in Portland that weekend so we wouldn’t be able to do it. Whew! But Jackie caved and signed up too.
At some point we did decide to bump things up a bit and signed up for the Aflac Iron Girl 10k. Whoohoo! This was going to be two laps around Green Lake on September 12. We went to packet pick up the day before and it was 88 degrees. We picked up our packets, shirts (a lovely v-neck tech shirt in pink) and our Aflac plush duck that screams “Aflac” when you push a button. There is nothing memorable about the night before the race. Or maybe I’m blocking it from my memory banks.
Race day comes and we carpool to the lake. Parking around Green Lake is crappy at best and we wanted to get a good spot. We found a spot that wasn’t too far from the start. We piled out of the car and took some photos.
Looking like an underwear model.
We headed over to the start line. It was going to be a nice day but it was just 7am and was still a little brisk out. We made our way to the porta-potties and stood in line. After that we wandered around, listened to the announcer make his announcements, got our photos taken by some professional photog or another. Pretty soon it was time to line up. This was the first race where we were asked to line up according to our pace. We headed toward the back of the line and found the 12:30 pace. Not far from the end as it turns out. But the walkers were (supposed to be) behind us. More announcing. Apparently one of the contestants of The Biggest Loser, Susie something, was running her first 10k. And some personal stories were read. And the national anthem was sung. And a 5 minute delay.
Oh, now we’re ready! The “Aflac” was sounded and off we went. Well, sorta. We walked for a good while before things thinned out. Seems some of the walkers thought it appropriate to line up with the 6 minute milers and insisted on walking 3-4 abreast. Much dodging and going off the path to get around these people but finally I passed most of the walkers and it was fine. Morrie had to stop off at the first bathroom and I continued on. I couldn’t bear the thought of having to weave around the walkers again.
Finally, around mile 1 1/2 there was a water station. I grabbed a cup and gulped my three oz. of water and off I went. There was a little confusion around the Bathhouse where the second lap of the 10k was diverted to the outside lane. People were yelling 10k this way and I had to stop to cross over only to realize that they were yelling this at the women who were on their second lap. On their second lap? I’d been lapped. Fine.
I felt pretty good that first lap and into my fourth mile. I caught up to someone who was walking and said, “C’mon, Iron Girl!” She started running and we went for quite a while together. We hit the second water station at mile 4-ish. (Note to Aflac organizers: wtf? How about having two water stations next year?) From mile 4 until about mile 5 I was feeling really good. My legs were warmed up and nothing was hurting too bad. Then mile 5 and beyond happened. I was feeling sluggish and thirsty and suddenly my right leg just below my knee was really hurting. Well, I’m just stubborn enough to keep running and that’s what I did. I tried to pour it on coming down the finish chute but it didn’t really amount to much. I crossed the finish line in 1:17:49.
We grabbed our yogurt parfait (one per person please) and found a patch of lawn to sit down. We chatted for a while then tried to get up to leave. Ow. The muscles had already stiffened up but we managed to get up and get to the car. More photo ops and then off to home for some well deserved napping.
Finisher's medal
