Spoiler alert: It went well.
Let’s backtrack. Brazen Racing’s Bay Breeze 10k took place on Saturday morning at San Leandro Marina, the other side of the San Mateo bridge. I’d wanted to run a Brazen race for a long time as I’d heard so many good things about them. However the timing of this race and the flat course was what signed me up. My goal was a PR of 51.30 or below, with a B-goal of 51:anything.
Never let a pre-schooler pick your race-day outfit!
So.Much.Neon!
My ‘strategy’ was to start out at a decent pace – maybe 8.50? – for the first half mile till everyone got settled and then to step up to tempo pace. I’d try to hold that until mile 5. Whenever we’re in the car and I accelerate, the Dude yells ‘BIG ENGINES, MUMMY’. I was going to turn on the Big Engines at Mile 5. And then we’d see.
I was enormously inspired by British gold medallist Lizzy Yarnold who won the Olympic Skeleton Luge on Saturday. The Brits don’t do well at the Winter Olympics, this is only our second medal at Sochi. But this lovely young woman won her gold and her interview moved me to tears. She was so modest and humble and sweet, and has worked tirelessly for years without glory, media exposure and all the razzmatazz that many athletes enjoy. She said how excited she was, the night before her race. Excited, not nervous. She’d done all the work, she just wanted to do it now. I was hugely inspired by her, I thought of her a lot during race day.
The weather was perfect. Grey, overcast and cool – thus perfect for running. I drove over in the early morning and was immediately intimidated by all the other runners. The field was bigger than I’d anticipated (the event included a half-marathon, a 10k and a 5k) and whilst some people looked beatable, many looked like lean, mean racing machines. I get intimidated easily by other runners, even though I know it’s silly.
Before the off
I arrived in enough time to get my number, use the plentiful loos, watch the half-marathon start and then line up for the 10k, fifteen minutes later. The girl next to me was aiming for a 50 minute time, so I reckoned I was positioned about right. The klaxon went off and off we went. I stuck to the right as we ran across the first 100 yards of grass, and let people pass me. Soon we were on a paved path – it was a busy but not too crowded, I managed to find my pace quickly.
About half a mile in, I decided it was business time, and stepped up the pace to what I hoped was a manageable speed. I was wearing the Husband’s super-cool Ironman Garmin and when I glanced down I was running an 8.07 pace, which freaked me out a little…but then I remembered his watch is set to kilometers. It felt okay anyway, so I kept going.
The race is an out and back. The course is pancake flat and we ran down the bay. The peninsula was a blue haze across the bay, but I wasn’t looking at the view at all, I was so focussed on my running. Everything felt good. At about 2 1/2 miles, the paved path disappeared and the final half mile of the Out section was gravel. I had a minor panic about my ankle but kept my eyes on the ground and focussed on landing my feet well. I saw the girl from the start just before I got to the turn-around point which reassured me I was on track. I turned around and headed north. By now I was working hard but feeling really strong. As I ran past the people still going south, I realized I’d passed a number of people I’d used as rabbits, and that felt good.
As I approached 5 miles, my hearts sank. In the distance, I could see an immense crowd on the path – the 5k runners. Jen and Angela had warned me about the congestion in the final mile but I was dismayed at how many people there were. I got to the 5 mile point, thought of the Dude and turned on the Big Engines. I was surprised that there was still something in my legs.
By now, it was now pretty busy. Having said that, people were pretty good about not hogging the path and with minimal weaving, I was able to keep going. I hadn’t looked at my watch since the first mile but I knew I was running the best I could – I was pretty keen for the finish line to come. And eventually I was there, running back onto the grass towards the finish line. I gave it all I had (which wasn’t much) and before I knew it I’d crossed the line. I stopped the Husband’s garmin, glanced down…and I’d done it in 50.37, a minute faster than my goal time.
Lots of grinning
My Garmin said I ran 6.18 miles, slightly short. That would have been a 50.53 10k. But as you don’t get to alter your time if the race runs long, I’ll happily take an official time on a slightly shorter course.
I wanted to check my official results and they weren’t up yet, so once I’d recovered, I walked back to my car and got my jacket. I phoned my boys and yelled down the phone at them, and then walked back to the staging area. Still grinning at random strangers and singing out loud to my earphones. There is nothing like the endorphin high of a goal well met, is there!! Nothing like the buzz of a PR. Nothing like the thrill of putting in the effort and seeing it pay off. I was so happy.
Yay!
Back at the staging area, I stumbled on the most amazing refreshment table in the world. My jaw hit the floor and I joined the queue. The girl behind me said to her friend ‘Wow. Ugh. They have red velvet cake, who would want that after a race?’ That’ll be me, then! They even had samples of hot coffee which, as I was starting to get chilly, was welcome.
Fruit, crisps and red-velvet cake. Perfect.
The only remote hitch of the day was the delay in getting the 10k results up on the board – maybe half an hour? Maybe a little less. It was enough time to get cold. I chatted to a lady who works for the North Face and who designed the compression gear for the US Olympic snowboarders. I asked if she had got her hands on any Olympic bottoms and she grinned ‘Many’. Nice!
My octopus medal. Don’t quite see the Octopus link but it’s cute!
The results were put up. My Garmin time was correct and thus official. I had secretly hoped that I might place in my age-group – Brazen are very generous and split age-groups 30 – 34, 35 – 39 which made it more possible – but alas, I came fifth. I was a little sad but I can’t control who else runs the race, I can only control my own race and I was overjoyed about that. So I sloped off home to my boys.
So in summary…flipping cracking! I was HUGELY impressed by Brazen Racing. Apart from a well-staged event, the buffet was incredible, the medal is HUGE and super-heavy and they had a medal-engraving stand where you could get your time engraved on. I wish I’d done that. I also liked that I had the option to opt out of a race shirt, which I did, saving me $5. I have numerous race shirts, I’d rather keep the money towards my next race.
Personally, I am really REALLY happy with my race and my time. I placed 5/69 in my age-group and 53/550 overall field! How did that happen?? I can’t quite believe that this slow-coach ran a 10k at 8.18 pace – it feels beyond my wildest dreams, if I’m honest. Back in December 2011, I ran a 10k in 1 hour 6 mins. It hadn’t occurred to me to try and run faster, it hadn’t occurred to me that if I was willing to work hard I could run faster. I feel like I’ve come a long way in 2 years. I’m really content.
It was a good day :)
