This past Memorial Weekend I took part in Boston's Run to Remember. It's a race that is dedicated to the fallen police of Boston and their children and it's split into a 5 mile race and a half marathon. The Niff did the half, I did the 5 miler.
It was a pretty big deal for me because I have always benefited from having a great pacer in the Niff - I tell her how fast I want to run and she is my rabbit. I don't think, I just follow at her pace. Very simple.
Not this time. She was on her own and so was I. Going in, I knew I had to have a playlist that I would love and that would push me - I had 35 songs, way more than I would need but I always plan for the worst case scenario I guess. I tried to have a good variety of music and artists, stuff I knew I wouldn't get sick of. I really was thinking "pick songs that you won't want to skip" because what's the point of making a playlist you are shuffling through while trying to run?
This is what I ended up with:
I had it on shuffle since I like to live dangerously like that and it still started on I'm Shipping Up To Boston. Oh the irony, especially since we start on the seaport and run past the old ships along the harbor.
The Niff took off about 30 minutes ahead of me, and the first mile was surprisingly good. I looked at my watch and was right around 10 minutes. I just wanted to finish in under an hour. That's it.
The second mile was good too. Again, no cramps, I felt good on the little baby hills of Boston and just enjoyed it. Again, I was about a 10 minute mile for the 2nd mile.
The third mile came and was gone quite quickly, probably because there was a water stop that I was looking forward to and snagged some Gatorade and water from and got back up to speed. By the time I hit the 3rd mile marker I actually felt fast and strong. I looked at my watch and I ran about 9:30 mile for my 3rd mile.
At that point, I figured why not go for broke - if I just maintained my current pace, I'd finish at about 50 minutes, so about 10 minute miles. Not bad at all.
But I wanted my splits to have a 9 at the beginning instead of a 10.
So I picked it up. I hit the 4 mile marker right as the escort turned the corner for the half marathon leader. The half marathon's 12th mile was the 5 mile race's 4th, so I ran next to the eventual winner for all of 6 seconds. To put it into perspective, he was literally running twice as fast as me, finishing with about a little more than 5:10 miles for all 13 miles.
I kicked my pace up a bit more and crested the final little hill before the end. If I had to guess, it was about 3/4 of a mile from the finish line and we could see it. But it never seemed to get any closer. I looked at my watch and it told me I had about 4 minutes to get to the finish line if I wanted to reach my goal of beating 50 minutes.
At the end of all my races I like to sprint as fast as I can. I used to sprint in high school and I love picking people off at the end. I tried to pick it up but I barely felt like I was moving. Rather than have anything left in the tank for a sprint, I used up all that extra oomph over the course of my race and that was something I was really proud of - I truly would finish with nothing extra and knew I would be done with using up everything I had.
But I put my head down and just ran a bit faster. I was about 50 yards from finishing and I looked down and saw I was around 49:35.
I finished in 49:43 for 9:57 splits.
I was elated. I was worried forever I wouldn't finish under an hour. That I would start out too fast. That I would cramp up. That I wouldn't know how to pace myself.
But I was fine. The entire way I just heard the Niff echoing instructions to me - If you start out and feel fine, you are going to fast. Drop your shoulders and loosen up. Recover on the downhills and get your breath back. Plow up the hills like you are a tank.
I was rewarded afterward with a massive bounty of food - bagels, coconut water, mini Lara Bars, oranges, and yes...Drake's powdered donuts.
The Niff finished her race shortly after I did and we pillaged the food tables a bit more before heading back to our hotel room across the street.
I credit three things for my success - a great instructor in the Niff, a great dinner in the North End the night before and lots of sleep, and a great playlist. Without any of these I would have a big cheese slice on my head.
