Belated Race Report

So…back to the race! This is gonna be a long post...you've been sufficiently warned :-)

We met up with Bill, Jon and Dianna on the steps of the church, who were at various levels of pre-race warm-up. I don’t remember chatting too much…I had so much left to do: attach bib, lace-in timing chip, attach fruit snacks to shorts, strap on iPod shuffle, put clippies in my hair, re-tie shoelaces, wonder if I needed to pee again, etc, etc. Luckily, David was kind enough (or was he?? Was the intent malicious?) to assist with pinning my bib. April-Anne appeared and then left again (to her car, I think) and then Michelle arrived with her family and *adorable* daughter. David did some warm-up laps, Dianna headed off in search of a short line at the porta-potties, Lara and Susan disappeared to find the 5K start, Jank was gone, Michelle was gone…and David, Jon and I weren’t really sure what the plan was. I was anxious to get to the starting line…David was still warming-up and Jon was doing his ITB stretches. Men…let’s get going!!

The three of us walked around the start, looking for familiar faces. We saw April-Anne pass by, hollered at her to join us…I was a little concerned since she probably wanted to start the race with Dianna and not with 3 sort-of-strangers :-) I kept looking at my watch and all I could think of was how nice it would be to be peeing right now. But, the gun went off, I got a quick kiss on the head, and we shuffled across the starting line. I hadn’t really given much thought to running WITH people…I’m so used to running alone that I just kind of took-off and headed out at my own pace. Pretty soon I realized that April-Anne is running along with me so I popped a few questions her way, not really knowing if she liked to talk and run, or if she just wanted to concentrate. We passed through Miles 1 and 2 together, then she decided she wanted to pull off the pace a bit. I don’t really remember much about the miles or the bands at this point…all I could think about was how much nicer this whole experience would be if my bladder wasn’t gently reminding me that I had sucked-down too much water too close to start time (normally, I’m really good stopping all fluids about 1 hour before).

As Mile 4 approached, I saw what seemed to be an official sign pointing to porta-potties. Down in the distance (a ways off the course, in a public park) I see two sets of two toilets. I make the decision to just do it…otherwise I’ll be thinking about pee for the next 8 miles. I headed over to the side of the road, jumped over the guard-rail, briefly worried if I’d be disqualified for leaving the course, ran down a fairly steep, grassy hill, hoped I wouldn’t sprain an ankle, and pulled up to the first set of port-potties. No shit, both of them were locked with padlocks…What?! I ran a bit further up the park, crossing my fingers that the next two would be unlocked (seriously, if not, I was going to pee there anyways…I’d already wasted enough time with this jaunt). The first one appeared occupied, but I pulled open the door on the second one and hollered with brief happiness. It was at this point, I realized that peeing here would create a life-long memory...there appeared to be human feces smeared near the seat. I don’t believe this porta-potty was placed here solely for the race; I think it was there for many, many dirty nights in the city. I did my best to yank down my shorts so as NOT to drop my much needed fruit snacks anywhere in that place. However, I did manage to displace my race bib (though, later I exaggerated that it had entirely fallen-off…just one pin came off…it didn’t *really* fall on the floor, Jon). As I felt relief wash over me, I wondered how many lovely diseases I may be exposing myself to in this New Haven porta-potty :-) After reattaching the bib as best I could, I took off and headed back up the hill to the course.

Honestly, it’s not just because it’s been a week since the race, but I don’t really pay too much attention to my surroundings when I’m running. I did notice that we probably ran through some “not so nice” parts of New Haven, near some water (which gave a major head-wind), through neighborhoods where people were offering water and sprays from the hose, up a few hills, down a hill, etc. I remember feeling pretty frickin’ tired at Mile 8…I was afraid I was burning out. I’d had water at a few of the provided stops, and eaten a few of my fruit snacks about 45 minutes into the race. I think I’d wasted a lot of energy early on thinking about peeing, actually peeing, and then trying to make-up for time lost peeing.

About Mile 10, I decided I was going to just push-it…as fast as I could manage for the next 2.4 miles. I’m pretty sure I passed quite a few people, but I wasn’t really focused on others…just trying to dig deep and gut it out to the finish. After passing the 12 mile marker, I thought, “holy crap…less than 4 minutes left, just keep pushing”. I remember seeing Susan and Lara, looking a little overwhelmed with trying to find us AND take pictures :-) I smiled and just pushed and pushed. I crossed the finish line, and headed right into a crowd of people…no water, no one helping to remove chips, nothing. I felt truly spent…I kept walking a bit, trying to recover my breath (I was wheezing a bit), desperately searching for water. After I found a bottle, I took off my chip, handed it to someone, and headed back towards Lara and Susan. We cheered loudly for the other RBFers, everyone of them looking happy and strong.

After the race, we chatted some more over beer and cookies (and of course, some healthy stuff, too). It was really a marvelous, marvelous day. I feel so fortunate that I’ve met such a fantastic bunch of people, and grateful that many would travel so far for something as unique and crazy as a meeting of Internet friends. I can’t wait for next year…and maybe I’ll be the one traveling many, many miles to make it to New Haven :-)

And, I will post my splits...only because you asked :-)
Mile 1 8:25
Mile 2 8:07
Mile 3 7:38
Mile 4 7:21
Mile 5 8:23 (extra time in potty)
Mile 6 7:54 (eating fruit snacks)
Mile 7 7:37
Mile 8 7:54 (I'm tired of running)
Mile 9 7:30
Mile 10 7:47
Mile 11 7:11
Mile 12 6:58
Mile .4 2:40
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Time 1:35:31