Proud To B...

I knew it was going to be a good day when my husband announced he was making pancakes for breakfast. Pancakes and pure maple syrup are a little bit of heaven.

Today was the Human Race, an 8K in St. Paul. It is the third year that I've run it and this was my best yet. Because I was jealous of inspired by Jeanne's phenomenal finish time in her 8K, I decided to see how well I could do. I knew I couldn't run as fast as her, but I was hoping I could come in at an hour, which is a 12 mm pace.

I came in under an hour. Four minutes and 53 seconds under. Official finish: 55:07. That's an 11:06 pace. I was ecstatic!

But I get ahead of myself. The race began at a civilized 1:20 in the afternoon. It is an out and back along Summit Ave. in the capitol city of St. Paul. I arrived a couple of hours early and after picking up my race packet then stashing my gear bag, went for a two mile run along the river trail. Here is a view of the Mississippi from the east bank, facing west.
Returning to the field house, I stretched then looked for people I knew. I saw some people from my new running group and as I was taking their picture, my friend DJ saw me. She took our picture, then went to find the co-worker she was going to be running with. It wasn't until I was racing that I realized I should have taken her picture too. But perhaps I did her a favor, because the CrapCam takes especially crappy pictures indoors. Here is a very blurry photo of my running group.


The race has two themes: B-Fit, B-Healthy, B-Human and B-Proud, B-Green, B-Irish. I chose to be Irish and wore the bright green beads with the shamrock medallion that my friend Little P bought for me at the St. Patrick's Day parade. I saw a woman wearing shamrock earrings and commented on them. "We have to be Proud," she said. Indeed.

I crossed the starting line with the two women from my running group, but quickly fell behind them. K was wearing bright green pants and I kept my eye on them until I could see them no more. I had no music with me and just focused on my running. Usually I talk with the other racers, but not this time. This time I was in it for me and a PR.

About fifteen minutes into the race, the leaders were passing me on their way back. Usually I hoot and holler for them, but today I saved my energy. I'm sure they'd understand. :-)

Summit Ave. is a major route in St. Paul and to have it closed to traffic was a huge inconvenience. Too bad, so sad. There were a few pedestrians that tried to cross in front of the runners. A man stepped off the curb just as I was trying to turn left and cut the corner. I glared at him and he stepped back. I swear I would have plowed right into him. Hey, my race fee covers the permit to reserve the road!

We passed the governor's mansion and I wondered out loud why he wasn't out there cheering us on. "He's probably running it," said another racer. Both the governor and his wife ran in the Twin Cities marathon last year, but I checked and they didn't run the Human Race.

On the way back, the traffic cops were letting cars cross a certain intersection, just as I was kicking it up a notch. Gasp! I was afraid they were going to make me wait, which would have RUINED my time, but as I approached they made the cars wait. I thanked the nice officer.

My Garmin told me I was near the end, but I couldn't see the finish line. There was no balloon arch, just a clock at eye level. Finally, there it was. People from my old running club were cheering for me and then M, the asst. coach with my new club ran in with me. He was really excited for me, because he knew that I was trying to come in at an hour. It's so nice to have people cheering you on at the finish.

The post-race refreshments were provided by Whole Foods and the Great Harvest bakery. All I wanted was a chocolate chip cookie, but I picked up a bottle of water, some figs, slide of bread, and some sort of health cookie. Afterwards I changed out of my sweaty clothes and headed out for pizza with my running club.

Here are my race results from the past three years. Division Place means where I placed in comparison to other female runners in the 50-54 age group. Which means, for my age group, I'm pathetic.

YEAR	AGE	TIME	PACE	DIV PLACE
2004	50	58:03	11:41	20/22
2005	51	1:02:02	12:29	27/28
2006	52	55:07	11:06	32/33