Friday night, Jaclyn and I headed out for a dinner on the town. A friend who lives in Raleigh recommended the restaurant Sitti. What an amazing recommendation! It was Mediterranean style cuisine that was to die for.
I loved that we arrived at the restaurant after 8:00 in the evening, had a 1/2 hour wait and as we walked up to the bar a pair of chairs opened up. We sat down, ordered drinks (virgin for me of course) and had appetizers.
The best thing about my relationship with Jaclyn, other than a 20+ year friendship, is that we NEVER seem to run out of things to talk about. A 3 hour road trip, unpacking and settling and then going out to dinner and not a dull moment. I love that girl.
We didn't eat dinner until after 9 and got home after 11. Seriously, how long has it been since I've done that? Don't know, would have to check the blog to find out!
Saturday we drove the race course & picked up our race packets. These balloon statues were outside the packet pick up room and it reminded of college sorority rush. Goofy pictures were in order.
Unfortunately much past this moment I did not document photographically. But here's how the race broke down.
Although the nasty cold was improving daily I did not make the final decision to run until Sunday morning. I knew I would run on Saturday, out of sheer determination, but Saturday night was really rough, physically.
We began the run and as expected the course was full of long slow hills. About mile 6 I heard Cary's voice, from our conversation the night before, "Sweetie, I know that if you get to mile 6 and find that you are pushing yourself too hard that you'll listen to your body and take it easy."
That was right about the time in the race I could tell I was not recovering from each hill as quickly as I should and that I would not be able to maintain the current pace. Mile 7 came around and I told Jaclyn to keep strong and go ahead. She was concerned about me and I told her I would be fine.
As soon as she took off I felt my heart lift and a big smile come across my face. I knew she would attain our goal. I knew I would finish the race. But I also was very proud of myself for listening to my body and taking it easy. Truthfully I sort of became a diva on the course, making sure my nose was tidy (it ran a LOT on the course) and my outfit looked cute! I walked a lot but also didn't let myself stop running the last 2-3 miles.
A couple things that surprised me:
1-I was sick and STILL did not "suck wind" like those other racers pushing themselves around me.
2-It's amazing how much I've learned from Cary. He taught me how to run downhill, like let your legs go and feel like you're about to loose control. I would FLY past other runners just going downhill and they never caught up (even when I walked).
I realized, while walking, that as competitive as I can be with myself this was one race where I really didn't care when I finished. I knew I would finish. I had done my work in training and this was a celebration of the summer months of running.
The Richmond Marathon races are more fun, but it was a good experience to race out of town.
I don't know when I'll do another race, but I will do another one...
Official race results:
Jaclyn 1:59:19
Leah 2:09:14
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