This Sunday, I ran a race! As you may remember, I kind of forgot about this one. It just snuck up on me after graduation, traveling, and settling in back home, and I didn’t really get in the amount of training that I would have liked. Irregardless, I still ran the shizz out of the damn thing.
The morning started with a leisurely 5:00 am wake up call. I downed my 2 cups of coffee, and packed 2 Vita Cocoa coconut waters, 2 bananas, 2 gluten-free homemade-jam sandwiches, and 1 peanut butter cookie Lara Bar. I like to come prepared. Dad and I hit the road to Winthrop at around 6:00 am.
The drive was quite enjoyable, and the scenery was beautiful.
During the ride up, I ate one banana and had one coconut water.
The view of the farmlands, orchards, and winding rivers was so relaxing to me – no pre-race jitters.
Coming in to Winthrop {and Twisp, the town before}, is like stepping back in time to the Old West.
No neon signs. No blatant advertisements.
A small quiet town.
Perfect for a relaxing get-a-way.
Just adorable.
By 8:00 am, Dad and I had arrived at “The Barn” where I picked up my bib number. No t-shirt or swag bag at this race, but I’m okay with that. Most of the stuff that comes in goodie bags I never use, and I have about 10 zillion race t’s that I wear maybe once.
As you may remember, this was a downhill race, so a bus had to take us up the mountain a ways. It wasn’t scheduled to leave until 9:00am, so Dad and I scoped out the race course, and where he could spot me as I raced by.
At 9:00 am, I was on the bus with the other 73 half marathoners {small race}.
It’s always interesting listening to other racers comments and conversations. –uh, yes, I was eavesdropping, but it was kind of hard not to, as these people were basically shouting their “interesting” running facts, PRs, training techniques, etc. I overheard one girl say that she was shooting for a sub-1:30 race – ding! ding! ding! – I had someone to keep pace with. I usually just keep to myself before races – it’s not till afterwards when I get real chatty.
When the bus made it to the top, we saw the first two marathoners zoom by. 6:01 and 6:07 average pace for the first two. Dang, dude. We cheered on the 89 other marathoners as we waited for our 10:00 start.
Finally, after what seemed like a morning of hurry-up-and-wait, we lined up at the start line.
On your marks…
Get set…
GO!
We were off at a leisurely pace.
I quickly made my way to the front of the pack following closely behind ‘sub-1:30 girl’ and another guy. I felt like we were going a little slow at the beginning considering we needed to keep a 6:48 average mile pace to ensure a sub-1:30 overall time, but since we were running mostly downhill at the beginning, it was difficult to say [I also don’t have a Garmin]. Plus, I was concerned about blowing out my quads in the first few miles of the race due to lack of training, so I just stayed with the little group.
Around mile 3, I saw Dad!
Our ‘sub-1:30’ girl is the one in the light blue and hat.
As you can see, this is just about the point when I decided to pass her.
Woo-hoo! I get excited when I see people while racing.
Yep. Still waving. Dorkus.
From that point on, I was on my own. No more spectators on the race course for me.
The rest of my run was, for the most part, really enjoyable. There were a few tough hills, and the temperatures were higher and drier than what I was used to running in. I got water at every station, which is completely unlike me. [At the Flower City Half, I didn’t stop at a single aid station.]
I kept fairly close to the lead guy, but then around mile 6 or 7, another dude came zooming by me out of what seemed like no where. The two boys stayed neck and neck for the rest of the race, with me trailing behind.
I passed a good amount of marathoners on the race course, which in a twisted way helped boost my confidence – even though they had run over twice what I had already done.
The worst part of the race was the 3.5 mile out-and-back at the very end right before heading in to town. On the way out there was an incredibly steep hill, which I knew would be waiting for me to trudge up right around mile 13. Of course. Also, the wind coming back was awful. It was like running while pushing against a wall.
Obviously, I survived.
Yes, that would be my name :: Stephanie Wilson, 3rd Overall.
But what’s even better…
Stephanie Wilson, 1 Top Female!
Overall Time: 1:33:21
Average Pace: 7:08 per mile
My First 1st Place!
WOOHOOO!
Yeahhhh boyyyy!
Proud Dadio.
I let him hold my medal, just so he could bask in all it’s glory. Then I snatched it back, grabbed some awesome watermelon and ordered my free Mexican meal!
Heck yes, muchachos!
Gluten-free, vegetarian goodness!
Dad enjoying my free beer along with his chimichangas. I am so generous. 😉
Next up! Free ice cream!
I gobbled down my homemade huckleberry ice cream so fast that no on had a shot in hell in getting a picture of it. You will just have to trust me that it was amazing.
Then I took a nap.
No, just kidding. I am just really awesome at taking pictures. No snoozing. I was too excited!
What a fun, enjoyable race. No PR, not sub-1:30, BUT no GI issues, which is a HUGE win for Team Gluten Free.
A huge shout-out to James Varner [race director] and Rainshadow Running for a great day in Winthrop!
Stephanie Wilson, RDN 