Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women

Yeah, and why were MEN running with bib numbers??

Well, this is it. Set things out last night, had a leisurely morning getting ready, left feeling like I forgot something. Couldn't imagine what, and it didn't matter because I had essentials (number, sneakers). I ran into a neighbor who was running it also so we chatted. She'd run it before and gave me tips (mostly relax and have fun!), then offered to run it together, but her pace was slower and I had to go to my office first.

Office = home base. Lucky me! Tons of time. Changed there. And (OMG) brushed my teeth which I'd forgotten to do! At least I figured out what I'd forgotten, but sorry, Katie, if you noticed while we talked. Last pee and I'm off.

Dropped some stuff in baggage claim. Why? Don't ask. It seemed like a good idea to have my office key there rather than in my pocket for some reason. Plus, I wanted a final lip balm application. (Hello, my name is Jen. I'm addicted to lip balm.)

Walked around. Stretched. Walked around. Kept eye out for Cristin & co. at the monument, but yeah no, not a chance of meeting up. 8,200 runners, plus fans.

I've been hydrating for the last couple of days through 9am this morning, and now, now I gotta go. (Mom, are we there yet??) No probs - there are like 10 bajillion porta potties. And craaaaap, like 999 gazillion catrillion people in line for them. Plan B = home base. I can totally make it there and back for gun time. Totally. And I did. Man, I love my office location. (Shout out to Donna aka Building Security who helped with my pace bracelet.)

Alright, this really was a good Plan B. The only thing is that IT'S NOW TOO PACKED TO GET TO MY SEED! I at least made it through stroller land and walkers. Anyway, I'd rather deal with slow runners than have to pee the entire time.

And we're off. Took a while for me to cross the start mats. The thing about racing is that it's not MY pace. There's so much to worry about: bumping into people, people bumping me. I really just wanted to get into my groove. If anyone has any race tips regarding this, please leave a comment.

As I was running, I approached a woman with a stroller. A stroller? I wanted to say: Um, yo, beeatch - how'd you get up here? You need to be back there with your people. And the fact that you cheated and put yourself into a different seed is a tad annoying. I'm not the only one who noticed. Whatev - just move the heck over!" Fine, I jumped the curb and scooted around. Turns out there was a lot of curb jumping and weaving back and forth just to get ahead. I settled into it - the weaving and jumping, accepting this as the norm. (But is that the norm? Please comment.) As such, approaching water stations was a whole other hazard. At one (I hadn't seen it coming) I barreled past, bumping whomever dared get in front of me. I know, probably wasn't the best etiquette, but in my defense I had women to the right of me suddenly throwing their arm in front of me to reach for a water. They may have bruises now and wished they'd been to the left of me like the other women who positioned themselves correctly to take water.

Finally, Comm Ave. I'd remembered it seemed endless when I practiced the route a while ago, but today the cheering fans helped. And, I was distracted by my weaving, so that helped to. But honestly? At this point, I really just needed to finish and not waste energy weaving. I was starting to hurt.

The last stretch on Charles was killer. I wanted to run under an hour. I knew I was close, and didn't dare check my watch again for the last two minutes. The intent was to focus everything on running, not clock watching. I really, really needed fans here. For some reason, the finish line was relatively quiet.

Finish line.
1:00:16
9:41 pace
A bit nauseous.
And then we had to walk uphill. At that point, slight inclines were not my friend.

Water, couple of bagel bites and same for a banana. A sip of some gross red drink. The only good idea was the water.

I have a massage scheduled on Wednesday, but to hold me til then, I stretched a lot, then went to my gym. More stretching, and my fav friend Mr. Foam Roller. Jacuzzi and sauna, naturally. :)