Race Report: Gate River Run 15K

I'm back from vacation and ready to get this 15K race report done. I can't believe it was only 1 week ago....it feels like forever. Vacations will do that to you, though. On to the race....

As I stated before, Morgan traveled to my lovely city of St. Augustine to spend the night totally nerding out about running and life. And just in case y'all are wondering, yes, I did indeed make a pasta dinner and it was delish. I love playing house. Hahaha. She went into pretty good detail about the night before, so go read about her race recap here.

Alarms went off at 5 a.m. Saturday morning, and away we went. I had my usual piece of toast with PB, and Morgan ate her toast with PB, and a banana. Funny side note: Morgan brought her own PB. To most people this might sound ridiculous, but to us runners...completely normal. We were out the door by 5:45 a.m. we're about a block away from my house when I think to myself, "Why are the street signs so blurry today?" Then out loud, "I forgot to put my contacts in!! We have to go back." FML! Morgan and I started cracking up at this. Maybe a sign of things to wrong today?! I hoped not.

So we get back to my house, I run inside and attempt to put my right contact in. For those of you that remember, I am a newbie contact wearer. Morgan's waiting patiently in the car while I fumble around with this contact with no luck. FAIL. Apparently I can't put contacts in while "under pressure." (Cue David Bowie/Queen song.."dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun...under pressure!") so I grab my glasses, my contact case, and opt to put them in when I get to Jacksonville.

We picked up my friend Corrina who was also running, and about 45 minutes later we made it to the start line. What do runners do when they first get to a start line? Find the port-o-potties, of course! Let me just break it down this way:

Trips to the loo
Christy: 2
Morgan: 3
Corrina: 1

Morgan FTW!!!


We were in the starting corral for about one hour, but it didn't feel like an hour. We talked about everything, including all things inappropriate. One such story included an unfortunate poop experience in a corn field in Idaho. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to tell you what happened, but for now you'll just have to sit and wonder WTF?

My stomach felt a little queasy, but I didn't say anything because I figured it was just part if the nervous pees or something. Soon enough we were off. Morgan was there to be my pace keeper. I didn't wear a watch because I knew she had her Garmin and I knew she'd keep me in line and track my pace and mile splits.

Mile 1 - we went out faster than expected. Amazingly enough we weren't trapped in the inevitable crowd of Mile 1 walkers/slow runners. How that's possible, I have no idea. We weaved in and out of runners fairly easily. Not even five minutes into the race we see a guy totally eat it on the asphalt. It was BAD! We banged up his face pretty good, and I don't know if he could've continued on after that. Literally, it was THAT bad. He was right in front of me, but I have Jedi reflexes and moved out of the way before I tripped on him and went falling forward myself. I always feel a little bad when I see runners fall and I don't stop to help them. It's kind of like driving by a bad car accident moments after it happened, and you know the driver is thinking, "Help me!" but you just keep on driving....not so Good Samaritan of me at all. But I was chasing a PR, people!

In Mile 1 we also encountered a guy I'd like to call Jackass. He was super mean and super loud. There were a group of girls walking and he says to them loudly, "This us the Gate River RUN. So RUN!" WTF? Sure, maybe they shouldn't have been walking so close to the start, but it was still so mean. He kept being loud and obnoxious, and he asked, "Where's the bridge?" And another runner yells out, "Turn left now!" as we were all turning right. BAHAHAH. Mile 1: 9:38.

Mile 2 - This took us on our first challenge of the race as we ran over the St. Johns River via the Main Street Bridge. No, this is not the gigantic bridge that this race is famous for...that's at Mile 8. Still an uphill, but I ran it just fine. Morgan is the best pacer EVER! We just kept right on going. Mile 2: 9:44.



Miles 3, 4, 5 - had us talking and giggling the entire time. Are we really in our twenties?! We were chatting like a bunch of 12-year-old school girls! I love running with Morgan! In these miles we ran past a lot of crazy stuff. First, a celebrity sighting of Betty White. It wasn't really Betty White, but Morgan and I both saw her, and immediately turned to each other and she said, "That looks like..." and we both said at the same time, "...Betty White!" Still cracks me up every time I think of that moment! We also saw a Hillary Clinton look-a-like, a "Mimosa Station", and people handing out Dunkin Donut holes. totally random things. The craziest part is that people were actually getting drinks at the Mimosa station...hmmm, not sure if that would sit well with my stomach! Mile 3: 9:30, Mile 4: 9:52, Mile 5: 9:58.

Mile 6 - I was feeling great, but just a little hot. Okay, not a little hot. A LOT HOT! The sun was a killer. It's amazing how Florida has been having below average temps for 3 months, and the one day it decides to remind me that I'm still in Florida, has to be the day I run 9.3 miles at 8:30 in the morning. Fantastic. But I powered through the heat, ran through some beautiful neighborhoods, and enjoyed my conversation with Morgan. By this point it started to become more Morgan talking, me listening, because I was feeling my speed and my queasy stomach, but I was determined to keep going and shoot for my PR. Mile 6: 9:38.

Mile 7 - ohh, mile 7, how I loathe thee. Last year, this was the stretch of road where I hit a wall. I think I psyched myself out thinking that I'd hit the wall again, and well, I didn't hit a wall, but I was reaching my puke threshold. It was a combination of the heat, the sun, and my queasy stomach. I had to take a walk break. Morgan was a good sport about it, and said it was totally fine that i walked. I was sort of bummed because I wanted to run the entire distance, but I'm over it now. That walk break helped me to charge through the upcoming hill, and helped me not get over my puke threshold. No puke = good thing. It's funny, I've never reached that point during a race where I've felt like I needed to puke. I've felt tired, sore, achy, but never pukey. Maybe it was something I ate the day before? Mile 7: 10:13.

Mile 8 - Before we knew it the gigantic Hart Bridge was in front of us. This bridge is no joke, my friends. 186 feet climb in a little less than a half mile. Last year I couldn't make it up the bridge without walking. My only goal for this mile was to do it without walking. I wanted to conquer this bridge running, even if it was slow running. And this is the part where I need to give a HUGE shout out to Morgan. Without her there I would've walked. I have no doubt in my mind that I would've said to myself, "Screw this sh!t. I'm walking, I can't do it." Because my mind can get the best of me, and in that moment, those were the exact thoughts running through my head. She was running a little ahead of me, helping me keep the pace. My pace was slow, but she was there in my sights, keeping me going. It. Was. Hard. But I did it. I felt a little like crying, my legs didn't feel like they were attached to me anymore, but I did it. And I didn't stop running until the finish. The downhill I wanted to take conservatively. I could've powered through that downhill and made up a lot of time, but I knew I needed to save it for the last .3 miles, which were going to be flat. Plus, despite my best efforts to get rid of it, the puke threshold was still there, looming in front of me. I had to keep it easy. Mile 8: 11:11.

Powering up the bridge

Mile 9 - all downhill, but like I said before I was keeping it easy. The breeze while on the bridge was amazing! I was feeling like I was going to DIE in the heat, and the gusts of wind were fantastic. And the view of downtown Jacksonville was breathtaking. I LOVE running on bridges, I really do. They offer the best views of everything. It was everything I needed to keep my mind off how tired I really was.

Mile 9.3 - Once I crossed the 9 mile mark I was ready to kick it up a notch. And I did. Morgan and I crossed the finish line with hands in the air and smiles on our faces. Mile .3: 8:51.

As soon as I stopped running the puke threshold returned. I thought I was going to puke. I pushed it at the end, harder than I've ever done during a race before. I never knew what it was like to feel like you're going to puke, but now I do. We were getting ready to get our medals put around our necks when I said to Morgan, "I need to puke. I need to find a garbage can now." In my head I was thinking/praying, "PLEASE don't let me be THAT runner. Please, please, please, don't let me puke. Oh no. Oh noooo." And then I didn't puke. I don't know how I didn't, but thank heavens I didn't! Smiles all around.

My official chip time is 9.3 miles, 1:34:16, 10:09 pace. PR by 4 minutes 28 seconds!!
Garmin stats: 9.46 miles, 1:34:20, 9:58 pace.




Post-race thoughts:
1. I definitely want to do better next year. I know I can. My training was lackluster, and I was impeded by my nagging butt muscle injury. I know I can PR this course again!

2. I didn't meet my ultimate goal of 1:30:00, and at first I wanted to put the blame on the weather (aka: heat of Hades). But the bottom line is, I didn't train very well. It was half-hearted at best.

3. The weather this year was far worse than it was last year, so I'm confident that my body is in better running condition than it was in March 2009. Good. Hard work really does pay off.

4. Am I sad I didn't get my goal of 1:30? Yes. But am I still ecstatic about my PR? Abso-freakin-lutely!!!!!!!!!!! A PR is a PR, my friends!

5. Morgan is a rockstar!