Bull City Road Fest: 5 Miler

I had originally planned on running the half marathon for this race but was relieved to be able to drop down to a 5 mile option which was significantly more realistic for me considering that I hadn't completed a long run past 7 miles in a few months. 

The day before the race I was nervous with excitement because this was the first time I was going to run for a running partner. 

I laid out all of my race belongings the night before to relieve a little bit of stress and decided to run in one of my old tennis dresses with leggings underneath which actually was really comfortable.

The morning of the race, Phil graciously woke up with me and took me to Kroger because I didn't have any pins for my bib and then we found a very convenient parking spot and heading down to the race site. There was over 5800 people running and this was the first race with this name which made the race quite chaotic at first. I was slightly confused on why both the 5 milers and half marathoners were starting at the same time. Phil and I found a spot to hang out while we waited for the event to start and tried not to be squished by other people.

Meredith found us and I wished her well this was her first half marathon and she had been training so well so I knew she would do great. I told Phil to meet me at the finish line about 1 hours 15 minutes was my estimated time.

When the race finally started I was so cold that I just starting running not realizing I was with the 10:30 min/mile pace which is significantly faster than my actual running so I slowed down making sure I had a calm upper body (Coach Jefferies words of advice in my head). My first 2 miles were great. I was feeling really good about my finishing time and so proud of myself for not stopping at all. I usually walk at least one to two minutes of a mile so I was excited to see myself push for that longer distance.

At the second mill there was a large hill. All of the hills so far I was able to run up except for this one. I saw it and it just made me want to stop and walk which in retrospect I am sure I could have pushed myself a little harder but I saw it and said no way. I knew that Durham was going to be hilly but that one was slightly unexpected. After walking for a short time up the hill, I began running again when someone saw my legs (I run 4) and noted that they ran for someone as well. This pushed me to run the rest of the mile. At mile 4, I was beaming. I knew I was only a mile away from the finish and knew that I must be making quite good time considering I had ran the majority of the race. 

I notoriously don't examine race courses which is where I hit a wall because at the 4th mile I passed Ninth Street which is where Phil and I love to dine out and suddenly I began to think... 

How can I be crossing Ninth Street when I am supposed to be finishing at American Tobacco which is a 15 minute drive from here with 1 mile left?

Then, I thought...did I get myself on the half marathon course somehow? Which made me extremely nervous... My confusion/terror of maybe having complete 9 more miles exhausted me...turns out the 5 mile course ended at a completely different location. If only, I had read the 1,000's of emails they sent me.

As I realized that I was on course I was close to the finish and pushed myself to finish 5 minutes earlier than I had expected!

At the finish, I received my medal and than grabbed some water and pretzels. I hadn't ate breakfast since it was only a 5 miler but looking back something small would have been much better for energy on the 3rd/4th mile. I told Phil to meet me at what I thought was my finish line so I quickly looked for him and began my mile walk back to the start. I didn't have my cell phone on me so I was quite relieved when I found him in the crowd. 

I feel like every race I learn something different or sometimes I learn a lesson all over again. This was the first race I ever completed without headphones and I have to say I thought I would be bored but I really enjoyed seeing everyone and the race course a little differently. I definitely will look at course maps and make a designated meeting spot in case something happens again. I was really excited to know Phil was going to be at the finish line and even though he wasn't at the actual finish line it definitely feels great to know someone came out to support me. :)