I am the crawling dead
A phantom in a box
Shadow in your head say
White Zombie - "More Human Than Human"
Today, I complete my first 5k, ever. This is actually pretty huge to me. I've not run a race since I was in high school over 20 years ago.
So let's start yesterday. I was nervous. Ok, I'll be honest, I was panicking big time. I had made the decision to treat this like it wasn't just a fun run, prep wise. I wanted to go through the whole process of getting ready for a Du. So I emptied out my gear bag and set to packing. I grabbed what I was going to wear, socks, shoes and put it out in a nice neat pile. In my gear back, I put in running tights (or what ever we're suppose to call em), and extra sweater, jeans, shirt, and normal shoes (just in case I wanted to hang around the city).
I didn't get a chance to go to me Team Meet and Greet, sadly. I was just running out of time and didn't want to feel super rushed. So I skipped it. Once I got the gear packed, today's dinner/lunch in the crockpot and cooking and such, I was able to relax a bit. I was pretty keyed up. Eventually I fell asleep, after some sage advice from Amanda to set two alarms.
This morning I woke up before the alarm. I guess all those weekday mornings of getting up at 4:30am paid off! So I got up, grabbed a shower, got in my gear and had coffee while tweeting. Amanda had a race today as well, and I hope she crushed it. That woman can run. I mean RUN. If I had half of her skill and ability, I'd be incredibly happy.
Anyway, Roomie was going to take me to the zombie zone, hang out and watch me race. Was. He decided to just bolt and head up to Church. Logistically this was fine with me. I could take the subway back down to the train and head home. Personally, it kind of sucked. I felt like a goober wandering around by myself. Suck it up buttercup, it's a race. You're not doing it for the spectators. Stop being such a drama llama.
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| Revenge WAS mine on the ride over... |
I did some stretching and a bit of warm up running, and made best friends with the blue box. Note to self: Ease up on the coffee on race day. I made my way to the starting line and found out I was in the first wave to be let loose. Not only that, I was at the front of the pack. That didn't last long.
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| I was one of the first ones to the line. |
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| This? Just me and 4000 of my closest friends. No big deal... |
They finally cut us loose about 5 minutes later than the 8am start time. Not to bad. I took off with the mob of other runners. This was a way different experience. I was dodging guys, girls, kids, getting chicked left and right. I really had to keep my head on a swivel. I glanced at my garmin and my HR was a bit high, so I slowed down to try to stay in z2. HA! Silly Polecat...
So in a Zombie run, there are balloons around your waist. Zombies try to grab them thus "eating you." In this race, we had three. About 400 meters in the first zombie attack point was staged. I made it through with no problem. It was about the 6th one I think that I had to work. I was between packs and looked like a nice little snack. Four zombies vs One Polecat. I poured on the speed and zipped by them. Once I was clear, I slowed it back down. But the pace/hr damage was done. I remember glancing at my Garmin at some point in time and saw my hr was 180-something. Whoa. So it was a lot of sprinting and then recovery. Incredibly taxing!
I ended up having to walk a few times. By a few I mean 7 or 8 I think. I could feel my calf starting to tighten up and my quad start to give me the tell tale signs it wasn't happy. Thankfully, as of right now, both seem to be in good shape.
As I came around the final curve, I saw the finish line in sight. I decided to push it and sprint. Up on my toes I went and kicked it into 3rd gear. I remember as I was coming in the chute, I saw one of the press guys bring up his camera and start rapid firing pictures. Maybe there will be a Polecat in print? Who knows. It was cool though. I felt all bad ass.
At the finish, despite what my garmin says (I think I lost sat signal under the bridge, dodging zombies) I finished my first 5k with this time:
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| If you're keeping track - That's a PR |
A very nice lady had talked to me a bit before we started the dash, and we were in the lead herd together. After I finished, I had grabbed my bag from the bag check and sat down to eat a clif bar and drink some water. She saw me waved and came over to sit and chat. She paid me the biggest complement of the day by saying:
"You look like a runner, I want to be like you."
Ilene from New Jersey, where ever you are, you made my day. Thank you so very much. I hope I get to see you and your husband (in non zombie costume) at another race.
Lessons learned:
- Packing the night before is critical - Good Job
- Getting there early is good - Good Job
- Eat a decent breakfast - Clif Bars do NOT count. Improve on this.
- Have the right gear for the weather and be flexible with the conditions - Good Job
- Slow Down and run MY race - Lots of work needed
- Have something to eat ready when I get home - Well done Polecat
- Try to meet one new person at every race - We'll see about that one.. so far so good.
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