Race Into the New Year

This race is always such a blast. It starts at 11:45 and you run into the New Year with fireworks at midnight. Last year I ran my fastest time on this course with a 20:24. It's a simple out and back in the shape of a u because you cross a bridge from the west side of the river to the east side and then back all on Riverside Drive. I was hopeful I could beat my time from last year to really kick off my spring training cycle with a bang. I thought 20:15 was reasonable and toyed with the idea of being able to break 20 minutes but that seamed a super lofty idea given that I haven't run any speedwork since October. I've never broken 20 minutes without having speedwork in the mix. My friend, April, from my running group was also running the race and was hoping to maybe be around a low 20 minute 5k. She broke 20 in a 5k for the first time at the end of November. I was hopeful we might be able to run at least part of the race together. When I thought back over last year's race I remembered we had done Christmas in Topeka after Christmas and drove back home on New Year's Eve. We ate burgers for lunch before heading home and I ate a whole basket of onion rings. I figured without 4 hours in the car and more reasonable food choices, I should already be able to beat last year's time.

Dressed and ready to leave for the race.

We started getting dressed and ready for the race around 10:30. I checked my weather app and it said it was 35 and felt like 35. But it showed that by midnight it would be 35 but feel like 25. I saw it was projecting the wind at 8 mph so I figured that wouldn't likely be a 10 degree swing in how it felt so I dressed for more like 30 degrees. We got to the race at about 11:15. That was perfect because I wanted to get a 2 mile warm up in and then upload my run so I'd have exactly 2,019 miles for the year 2019 which I was excited about! I took off on my warm up and I didn't feel the wind at all. Normally if I'm dressed appropriately for a cold weather race, I'm cold for nearly all of my warm up. I started my warm up feeling really comfortable and ended up getting pretty warm about a mile in. I took my hat off and ran with it in my hands. Then a while later I took my gloves off too. I figured if I ditched both before the race, my hands might be a little cold for part of the race but it would keep me from getting too overheated. I was a little bummed to ditch both as they were my only light up gear for the race. I did 2 strides at the end of my warm up and was surprised I was able to run 6:20 pace for them, feeling like I was running a comfortable pace I could maintain for the 5k. I saw April running a little warm up as I was finishing mine. I finished my warm up with time to drop my things at the car and take a quick restroom break. I headed to the race start with mom and dad and found Jeremy up toward the front. I stayed a little back from the start looking for April and she finally made her way up right before the race start. I was hoping to at least start with her.

Me and April before the race.

After the race I was a little bummed I hadn't started right at the front since they only used gun timing in the results. I was close enough to the front that it only effected my time by 1-2 seconds so I didn't care too much. From the get go there were a few women way out in front. I always like to finish in the top 3 because my running store gives out gift certificates to the top 3 finishers. A woman I had been chatting with at the start line was running next to me stride for stride. It was pretty nice. We chatted a little back and forth. We hit a couple icy patches on the trail and I slid out a little and had to slow down. I heard April yell out in surprise as she hit the icy patch and realized she was running along right behind me. We went up the little hill toward the bridge and I enjoyed crossing over the bridge with pretty lights they set out to light it up. My hands were cold at the start but were warmed up by this point. I hit the first mile in 6:16. I was shocked I ran my first mile so fast. I figured it was likely a little too fast but maybe I would be able to break 20 minutes. I watched as people who had already turned around ran back by. I saw one woman ahead of me toward the front of the race and counted that I was around 15th overall. When I hit the turn around I slowed a little as I turned. April passed me and I was excited that I'd have someone to work with to the finish. I was running right along with her but the people still on their way out were taking up enough room that I couldn't really run beside her as there wasn't room. I ran kind of on her shoulder and we shared a few words. When we came up to the little hill back up to the bridge I was able to get up next to her as there was more room. I went through the 2nd mile in 6:27. I was excited because I knew that meant I was still on pace to break 20 minutes!

I pulled ahead of April as we turned onto the bridge and I was feeling strong although the salami I had at dinner was pushing it's way up. She was cheering for me and yelling about the fireworks but I was afraid if I tried to respond, I may throw up, so I just put my fist in the air. The people still headed out on the course weren't moving over for us and there really wasn't sufficient room for me in some places. I bumped shoulders with a few people as I passed. On the other side of the bridge I passed a few guys as I pushed toward the finish. My last mile was 6:25 and I think I maybe saw it pop up but I'm not sure. I could see Jeremy ahead of me, thanks to his Nox vest lighting up, but he was quite a ways ahead of me. As I neared the finish line, I couldn't read the clock because it was sideways and when I did it looked like it said 24 minutes. I stopped my watch as I crossed the finish line and saw I ran 19:56! I ran the last portion of the race in 6:14 pace for a pace average of 6:23. The race results showed my time as 19:57 gun time so either way I still broke 20 minutes which was super exciting! I'm very pleased with where I'm at starting my spring training cycle!

As I crossed the finish line I noticed Jeremy wasn't cheering for me and that registered as odd. Then April finished and started talking to me. As I opened my mouth to respond I started dry heaving. So I totally forgot about Jeremy and just started searching out water to help me with my dry heaves. I ended up dry heaving/coughing up some drainage I've been dealing with which was gross! I finally found a bottle of water and April asked me to run a cool down with her so I took off to run my cool down with her. I didn't see Jeremy but that didn't register as odd with me since I was distracted with April. I knew he had finished because I saw him ahead of me so I wasn't worried about it. We saw mom and dad on the bridge. Dad was on his knee scooter since he's still in a boot from heel spur surgery and was keeping pace with mom surprisingly well. After the race I took his knee scooter to the car for him and I have no idea how he did a 5k on that thing, it was so awkward! I went ahead and ran out to a mile before turning around and caught back up to them with about a half-mile in the race. I took some pictures of them and then took the camera up to the finish line to take finishing pictures for them.

Mom and dad at midnight as the fireworks were going off.

I finished out my 2 mile cool down before heading to the car to change into dry clothes. When I got back dad asked me if I'd seen Jeremy because he and mom couldn't find him. My heart immediately dropped and I remembered how he wasn't cheering for me at the finish and I didn't see him before doing my cool down. We checked the results and confirmed Jeremy had finished the race. I started panicking about where he could be. What if he started to walk out to finish with mom and dad, got disoriented and fell into the river. I checked all the porta potties and the smaller half of the parking lot with dad while mom walked the large parking lot looking for his car. His car wasn't there. I had my phone but it was at 1% battery so I just kept calling him off and on as he usually has his phone on him at races. Before I started to head back out to look for him, he finally called me back. He finished the race and was feeling really overheated. He headed to his car to take off some of his clothes and was disoriented and started driving home. But since he was out of it, he took the wrong road, thinking it was Southwest Boulevard and ended up somewhere he wasn't familiar with. That was scary as shit for us that he would attempt to drive home when he was feeling disoriented. He drove back to the race so we could see he was okay and then we headed home. So now we have something else to worry about with him at races, him possibly deciding to get in his car and drive when his brain isn't in a good place for that. I'd really prefer he just not all out race anymore since this is becoming such a serious and recurring issue. My night went from being excited I broke 20 minutes to worrying about Jeremy's life in a hurry. Needless to say, it ruined the night for all of us. Now I'm semi-dreading our next race and hope the visit to the cardiologist he already has scheduled before then will help direct him toward making better choices for his health and life.

Jeremy finished the race in 19:23. He was 5th out of 381 overall and 1st in his age group. I finished 11th overall and 2nd overall female. Mom and dad finished in 46:07 and 46:08, 301st and 302nd overall. Mom was 12th in her age group and dad was 7th in his. Read about past years' races here: 2018-2019, 2017-2018, 2016-2017, 2015-2016, and 2013-2014. This year's race was a significant course record for me! I took 28 seconds off my time from last year which was my previous fastest time on this course. I'm excited for what that may mean for my spring racing season and especially for the St. Patrick's Day 5k and the BOSTON MARATHON! Next up is the Sweetheart Run Double in February with Jeremy as my teammate, now if I can just convince him to stick with me during the races and not run all out, I'd feel a lot better about it!