Grand Blue Mile Run

Everyone who has been around me the last couple weeks knows how excited I've been for this race. I ran it last year and was incredibly nervous, but ended up kicking tail. Last year, I had signed up for the Competitive Division, but then dropped out when I was logging 10-11 minute miles and it was recommended to have a sub- 9 minute mile pace. I ran in the Recreational Division, which was a lot of fun, and I ended up getting a time of 8:10 (that's 8 minutes, 10 seconds for you, Mom). I was extremely proud of myself and instantly became excited for the 2nd Annual Grand Blue Mile Run. I had planned on signing up for the Competitive division this year, but decided not to when my co-workers who I had convinced to sign up with me signed up for Recreational.

I was ready to blow away last year's time because I've been training much longer than last time. My goal was to get under 8 minutes.

The race ended up not going as smoothly as I'd hoped. It was windier than I remembered, and there were twice as many people registered this year than last year, which meant a lot more weaving in and out. I even had 2 instances where I almost ran into/tripped over a kid. Despite the announcer reminding the participants 37 times to line up with runners in the front, joggers in the middle, and walkers in the back....there were still walkers in the front that the runners and joggers had to dodge. Sorry to sound pretentious, but it was annoying and dangerous.

Anyways....

I was a little too ambitious and started out too strong, and by the time I was 3/4 done, the following thoughts went through my mind:

• "It's windy out here, that kind of sucks"
• "Am I even half-way yet?"
• "Kid!"
• "I have to pee"
• "I'm tired"
• "This isn't as much fun as I remember"
• "Kid! Dammit, get out of my way!"
• "I have to pee"
• "How am I ever going to run a half marathon?"
• "I really have to pee"
• "Why don't I see the finish line, dammit?"

I ended up finishing in 8:30, which was rather disappointing, but a friend of mine pointed out to me that one of the elite runners commented that he thought the head wind cost him about 20 seconds, and he figured the heavy traffic added some time as well. So thanks, Jim, for making me feel a little better about the run. And I'm looking forward to it next year.