Race day

I went to bed around midnight yesterday, planning to get up at 6.30 to be downtown at 8.30.

That didn't work out at all -- I lay awake until 2 am and then I lay awake until 4 am and then I lay awake some more, until getting up at 6 am. Whenever I send a friendly memo to my brain reminding it that tonight it would be particularly nice to have a good night's sleep, this happens. I don't even have to be nervous -- in fact I didn't feel nervous. Just awake.

I showered, woke up Thorsten (who of course had slept like a baby the whole night, the bastard), ate some oatmeal and half a banana as well as a cup of coffee, and packed all my stuff. I wasn't feeling too good, but at least Thorsten didn't have to actively force me to go this time around. The good news is that I didn't have a throat infection!

Thorsten and I both wore rain clothes going out -- it was pouring down outside -- but when we arrived downtown we hardly saw anyone else with rain gear on. It seems that most people here (not the outdoorsy kind, of course) don't even own rain gear.

Despite the cold and the rain, a LOT of people had shown up. Over 1600 people participated in the 5K (for some reason only 500 of those were men). I started out way in front (around the sign that said 8 min mile), and seeing that there were all kinds of people around me, it looked about right. Only a small minority were in front of us (there were signs for the paces 7-min mile and 6-min mile), and a huge crowd had assembled in the back -- at the very back there were quite a lot of people who walked, plus assorted strollers and dogs and children.

The course started off sneakily with a long, inviting downhill. I didn't immediately sprint like a lot of people did, but held back a little. Then the road evened out, and I was surprised by how soon the 2.5-km mark came and we had to turn around. Then a long, straight road home -- followed by the inevitable Hill from Hell. I passed some people at the very end -- guess I had an easier time climbing the hill than some of them due to my size.

Not that the race was a breeze. After I'd passed the finish line I felt like I had to throw up for a while, and I had to sit down and wait for five minutes before my frozen arms stopped being numb, and the waves of nausea started subsiding.

As for my time, I made it in 24:54 (which is less than 25 I'll let you know!) -- about what I expected, and pretty good considering the weather and my lack of sleep. I was number 23 out of 1200 women, though it should be noted that this was a "walk/run" -- so I don't think more than half (?) of those actually ran [I don't have to explain that having a thousand walkers behind me doesn't mean I'm any faster...]. I was also number eight in my age and gender group (women 25-29), and number 112 overall. Now I have a baseline personal record to improve on!

After I started feeling functional again, I picked up some freebies and Thorsten and I hurried home in the rain. I didn't bothered putting my rain pants on; I just wanted to get back. At home I wrote my mother, drank some chocolate milk, and had a long, much-needed nap.

This is so that I remember which foot is which:

In the elevator on the way to the race.

That's me looking exhausted:

This is me talking to a banana after the race, surrounded by my bounty and posing with my filthy shoes. I am wearing the top I got, though in the race I wore my ordinary running clothes.