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Make that the Army 11.4-miler, because they changed the route on us (for "security reasons"). I was wondering why the last two miles felt so long ...

Because of the route change, there's no official time for the race, but I'm sure I finished 10 miles in under two hours. (There was a time clock that claimed to be 1 mile from the finish -- so, 10.4 miles -- and it read 1:56 as I passed it.) My only real goal was to beat the recovery bus (a 15-minute pace), but [livejournal.com profile] meri_oddities assured me beforehand that I run a 12 minute pace, so my "wouldn't it be great if ..." goal was to finish in under two hours, woo-hoo! (Excuse me, this ia an *Army* race, I meant to say "Hooah!")

This was my first race ever -- I've never even done a 5K -- and I was *so* nervous. I didn't sleep well, and I couldn't finish my oatmeal this morning, and I really thought I might puke on the Metro platform. Once I started running, it was better -- though I managed to line up in the midst of people much faster than I am, so the first couple miles I was being passed on all sides, and that was 1) demoralizing and 2) made it harder to figure out what my pace should be. Fortunately, [livejournal.com profile] laitosto had warned me to pace myself and not let faster people at the start throw me off, which was good advice that I am thankful for. When I hit the three-mile mark at 35 minutes, I knew that I had found the right pace.

I want to thank meri_oddities for coming out to watch me run this morning, and for assuring me that I could not lose my way on the course (she was right), and for running eight miles with me two weeks ago so that I'd be ready for this run today.

JSB is not on LJ, but she knows who she is, and she reminded me to take ibuprofen, and did not mock my peanut-butter-and-nutella sandwich that I brought as a snack (and stop that snickering, it tasted yummy at mile 6).

And RM dealt with my fretting last night, and then hauled his ass out of bed earlier than planned this morning when (despite being maniacally prepared, down to pinning the bib on my shirt the night before) I managed to miss the subway train and needed a last-minute ride to Pentagon City. He drove down to mile 2 to cheer me on, and then spent the rest of the morning hanging out with a bunch of my coworkers (my office fielded a team and had a tent there), and then on the way home listened to me whine about the blister on my left pinky toe and complain that he brought me the wrong flavor of donut. He is truly a Good Guy.

Now I'm going to go lie down for a week ...

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