July 30, 2007
Fleet Feet Women's 10K
Here's the thing about this race: I want to love it. I really, really do. The course is great, winding around a beach and park and right along the lake for a bit. The crowd support is good (and where else are you going to find a race where ALL of the spectators are guys?), the volunteers are great, and it should be an all-around good time. Heck, I've even run other races on the same course that have been delightful and wonderful experiences. For some reason, though, this Women's 10K just has it out for me.Last year I came into it ready to kick some serious butt. I was going under an hour, no problem. I was in shape for it, I was fast enough, and I was ready to rock. Except for the part where it was 90+ degrees out at the race start, which made it a slow, hot, miserable experience. I still set a PR, but it wasn't under an hour, and I spent most of the rest of the day trying to cool down and rehydrate. Not a good time.
This year, the weather was much more cooperative. Sure, it still got a little warm once the sun came out, but the temperature maxed out at 80.... not 100. HUGE difference. Additionally, I knew I probably wasn't in the shape to PR, so I had no plans to kill myself - I was just going to go out, run nice and steady, and enjoy it. Less pressure + better weather = awesome race, right?
Almost. It was all happy and awesome right until a spot just past the 4-mile mark. We were running along the lakefront, and there was a narrow gravel path (about 2 feet wide) sandwiched in between a low concrete wall and some grass. When I got there, the gravel path was crowded so I ran on the grass next to it. Running on grass isn't exactly my idea of a good time, so when a spot cleared on the gravel path I hopped right into it. Or, I tried to hop into it. Instead, my right toe caught a piece of wood that was separating the gravel path from the grass next to it. Down I went, landing mostly on my right hand and knee right in the gravel. It felt great.
The girl just ahead of me turned around when she heard me fall and said, "Oh my God, was that my fault? I'm so sorry!" I assured her it wasn't, and tried to keep myself composed while I insisted I was OK. (I was OK - despite the fact that I'd scraped the shit out of both knees and had gravel embedded in my palm, I wasn't seriously injured, but I was still on the verge of tears because a) hello, dumbass, tripping and falling in front of an audience! and b) dude, that HURT.) She offered me her water bottle to rinse the dirt off myself, and then walked and ran with me for a little bit until she was sure I was OK. When I started running again, she asked, "Are you sure you don't want to walk?" I was. Once the initial shock wore off, it didn't even hurt anymore, and I sure as heck wasn't going to bag it for the last 2 miles of a race over a scraped knee.
I wound up finishing strong in just over 63 minutes - only 2 and a half minutes off my PR, which was much better than I expected to run... especially when you consider I lost a little bit of time with the whole "falling down go boom" thing. Someday, I'll finish a 10K in less than an hour. It just won't be this one.
I hit the medical tent at the finish and got cleaned up and bandaged, although I felt sorry for the poor guy who was trying to patch me up. Once I stopped running and sat down in the shade of the tent, I started sweating buckets. Ew. Not to mention it made the whole "get the bandages to stick to me" thing a little tricky. Luckily, I just needed something to get me home. Today? I'm fine. My knees and hand are still a little sore, and my hand looks a little rough, but I'll live.
Posted by Dawn at July 30, 2007 12:15 PM
Comments
Oh my gosh, owwwww! That was incredibly nice of the girl in front of you to hang out with you for a while to make sure you were okay though. I've noticed that about runners, theres usually a pretty good sense of camaraderie about them. And really, when you take into account the fact that you bit the dust and had to have some recovery time, you had a pretty good race based on your PR! Better luck next time, and I hope you heal up quickly :)
Posted by: Angela at July 30, 2007 01:52 PM
Oh man. Oh MAN. That's one of my biggest fears, right there. But it sounds like you rocked it afterwards, despite the fall! Awesome!
Posted by: SpaceCase at July 30, 2007 02:49 PM
I totally feel your pain! I wiped out flat on my face at about mile 2 of a 10 mile race last spring. I tripped myself on some trolley tracks that ran across the road and went flying, face first onto the blacktop. I had a giant scrape on my leg and I could have sworn that I also had a broken wrist (I didn't!). I was fine, just pissed off and scraped up, but I kept vowing to quit at the next available bail out spot.
The slide/fall/face plant also managed to tear up my bib number and my "free food" ticket appeared to be missing so I spent most of the next 8 miles formulating my angry response for when the volunteer tried to deny me my post-race snack. Luckily, that didn't happen!
Bottom line: Overall I ran a pretty good race, I got my snacks, and I didn't have any major injuries other than a sore wrist and neck for a couple of days.
Posted by: hkd at July 30, 2007 03:09 PM
That is totally my biggest fear too. I trip a lot when I am not running, so I know the pain/embarrassment combo. Glad you managed to get past it!
Posted by: Princess Runner at July 30, 2007 04:39 PM
Well, let me add to the "been there, done that" crowd. A couple of months ago I tripped and fell right at the start of a race, before the pack had thinned so *everybody* saw me wipe out. It's the ego that hurts the most, I found.
My all time classic was when I fell off a treadmill in a crowded gym. I think that beats all other experiences in terms of the embarrassment factor.
Posted by: Michael at July 30, 2007 06:04 PM