Soo.. since you are probably tired of reading about the amazing individuals who ran Boston this year in high-80′s heat… (ha.)
I’ll give a little recap of my first ever “official” race, the 10 mile Goldy’s Run on Saturday!
Friday was kind of cray cray. I worked at the client in the morning, headed to the airport for my 12:30 flight which landed in Minneapolis around 2:00 Central time. I drove straight to the office in time for a 3:00 meeting – I NEVER drive to the office because I work so close to downtown so finding parking was an adventure, but I made it. Then after work, I took off through rush hour traffic to pick up my race packet on the University of Minnesota campus.
In the rain.
The lines for pickup on Friday weren’t too bad, and everything was clearly marked. I was nervous I was going to be totally lost and look like a total newbie, but getting those jitters out was the whole purpose of doing this race before my half in May. The only snags – I forgot to grab pins, forgot to stop by the pacers table (I didn’t see it), and… I was registered as a male. Whoops. Good thing I wasn’t planning on placing or anything 
Brandon and I kept it pretty low-key on Friday night to allow plenty of time for me to chug water and have a minor nervous breakdown over whether or not I would die on my first foray into double-digit miles.
Then… SATURDAY WAS THE DAYYY! This is the first larger, organized race I have ever run, with the only race I’ve previously participated in being a hometown race with my little sister. I (mostly) followed the rules and didn’t try anything new – dri-fit tee and running shorts I’ve worn a million times, same old running shoes, boring toast and honey for breakfast with one cup of coffee. I had everything else laid out the night before – Honey Stingers chews for energy (this was new, but this was also the first run I considered to be long enough to need any fuel), my bib, a long sleeved tee for warmth in the morning, headphones/armband, and my new water bottle.
Brandon got up early with me and took me to the race (<3). I got there with plenty of time to find a bathroom with a short line, grab some pins, and add some last minute tunes to my playlist. I wandered over to the start area when I noticed people starting to migrate, and I situated myself between the 9:30 and 10:00 minute mile pace groups. I love running with lots of people around because it is so inspiring to see all the different sizes/ages/types of people all moving their bods! There was a teeny cute old lady (at least 70 years old I’d bet) in the 10 minute mile group that looked like this definitely wasn’t her first rodeo. So impressive.
And then… it started! The first 5 miles flew by. I picked a speedier lady in the 10 minute group to try to keep up with, and was her shadow for quite awhile until losing her somewhere after mile 5. I think I kept a pretty steady pace, but I’m dumb and forgot to stop my Run Training app at the end of the race so I don’t know my average pace. The last half of the race started getting tough. I ended up wearing my long sleeved shirt up until mile 6 because I was a little cold at the start, but looking back I would have ditched it before the race as it turned out to be a GORGEOUS day with perfect running weather. I was way too warm by the time I took it off, but I didn’t want to stop and readjust my whole setup so I waited until it was probably a little too late. Miles 6 and 7 seemed a lot better because I was so much cooler without a heavy cotton shirt on, but by mile 8 I was ready to be done. This race was my first encounter with the twin evils of blisters and chafing from running shorts… I was not a happy camper finishing up the race with that business going down. The seemingly neverrr endingggg hill (I think between miles 7 and 8?) didn’t help, but it felt so good to finally be over it and crossing the bridge back to campus.
Apologies for blinding your eyes with my bright white legs. And my bouffant hair.
The finish of the race was in the TCF stadium, but I was so focused on getting my body across the finish line as soon as possible that I didn’t hear my name or see myself cross the line on the big screen. It was so exciting to cross the finish line with the crowd cheering! Unfortunately, Brandon missed my finish by about a minute and a half… my bad, because I underestimated my abilities and told him to come too late so he wouldn’t have to wait around. The silver lining there is that I finished more quickly than I had anticipated, and didn’t walk ONCE!
Lessons learned:
- The water bottle was totally unnecessary with all the water stations, but it was also kind of nice just to run through them and avoid the slowdown and potential for spilling all over myself. I had just received the bottle in the mail and wanted to test it out on a long run, plus it had a little zipper pocket for the chews, so ultimately I was glad to have brought it.
- The Honey Stingers were necessary, but I didn’t need a whole bag. I only ate two or three right before that big hill, but I definitely felt that the little boost helped push me through those last few miles.
- Running socks are a must from here on out, and I might be needing to try out some new shorts or some type of glide stick.
- I still had a little oomph left in me for the finish – I think I can run faster than I give myself credit for 
- I reallyyyyyyyyy need some running sunglasses. Squint city up in these pics.
I finished in 1:39:17 – just under 10 minutes a mile. My goal for this race was to finish and hopefully not have to walk, which I definitely accomplished. I loved the race experience and am 100% pumped for my half marathon which is less than 3 weeks away!
The shwag was sweet too. I got a long sleeved tech shirt (which I would have loved more if it had Bucky the Badger instead of Goldy the Gopher, but I’ll take it!) and a finisher’s medal:
It’s all about the bling.
The race also had photographers on-site (…I stole the pic of me running above. Sorry peeps.) and they put together these cool little videos which I’m assuming they compiled based on your timer chip:
I’m still trying to figure out if the guy behind me was making fun of me for picking up the pace or was just really that excited to be done running…
After the race, we had a luxuriously lazy Saturday soaking in the beautiful weather. We ate breakfast and had bottomless mimosas at the restaurant below our apartment with my best friend Inga, then headed out a bit later to sit outside at Brit’s pub and have a drink with one of my roomies from last year and some of her friends that she brought to visit.
I know, my photography skills are beyond words. The lawn isn’t at a 45* angle in real life.
We topped off the night with some LobsterFest at Red Lobster… how Brandon swung it that we ate at his favorite restaurant the day of my race is a mystery to me. And yes, he is aware that he is overenthusiastic about a chain restaurant. I’ve got that angle covered. My lobster was good, though.
Sunday was a getting-life-back-on-track kind of day. We had seriously 3+ hours of laundry to take care of, we cleaned the rest of the apartment, and Brandon put together our new patio table (an Easter gift from my grandma pics soon!) and hung up some new wall decor. I also packed my bag for work, whomp whomp, and cooked a little dinner with the last of our groceries. All in all, I finished the weekend feeling more satisfied than usual on a Sunday and content to be living in Minneapolis.
How was your weekend? What accomplishment made you feel the most relieved/content? Are you already ready for next weekend like I am?
P.S. Check out this delicious treat I discovered in Ohio this week
You’re welcome.
