I knew from the minute the I looked at the brochure that came in the mail that I was going to do this race… sure its only a 5k (that is put on every year), sure its at 7pm in Tucson in June so it will be hawter then…(insert inappropriate witty phrase here) but this year it is different… this year this 5k is a part of a newly constructed 3 race event called the Gabe Zimmerman triple crown…
For those that don’t recognize the name, Gabe Zimmerman was an aide for Rep Gabrielle Giffords and he was fatally shot along with 5 others in the tragic shooting that occurred on January 8, 2011. The running community may not be relatively small, however it is very closely knit and Gabe Zimmerman wasn’t just a runner, he was a advocate for health and wellness. He and his family (also runners) were members of the Southern Arizona Roadrunners, a nonprofit club that hosts many races each year. When tragedies happen communities bind together and find ways to ensure the tragedy does not happen in vein, and then the Triple Crown is born.
On the day of the race we of course loaded up as a family and trekked up to Tucson for some fun. We of course had dinner at el Coqui…a Puerto Rican restaurant in Tucson that has some really good food, only issue with that is of course I over ate they had some new things on their menu… including Paella which is a seafood rice dish that I love so much I once spent $80 on ingredients and 6 hours in the kitchen just to find out my made up Hispanic cooking skills don’t carry over to this particular dish. I kept telling myself I would only eat half the plate and save the rest for later… but once it came I just couldn’t stop myself and before I knew it this huge plate of delicious food disappeared before my eyes. I remember thinking well at least I got me some carbs (as I watched my stomach slowly start to expand with bloat). No worries, I mean I have yet to set any records or win any age group prizes, and I knew I hadn’t suddenly changed in to some lean mean Kenyan machine.
We get there, Vic drops me off right in the middle of down town as they had many roads closed off for the race. That is when the loneliness hit me… no awesome running buddy to keep me pumped up, nobody to bs with killing time as you work out the pre race jitters… nothing.. just me… I get my packet and realize I’m really toast… I’m in down town Tucson where am I going to put my race packet and t shirt? Oh well I decide to worry about that later as I make my way to the port o john line… and I wait a good 15 minutes despite the fact there had to be at least 10 there in a row… there were TONS of people everywhere! I have done some pretty big races (ok well ONE) but that was the Tucson Half marathon you expect a lot of people to be there… this was just a 5k…where did all these people come from??
I marveled at this while I waited my turn did my business and then proceeded to stretch and warm up. Of course my stomach felt so heavy, like instead of devouring a delectable meal I had instead devoured a detestable 5lb brick. Luckily from around the corner emerged some familiar looking people (my family) I played around with the kiddos to kill the remaining time.
Finally it was time to line up… I usually start at the front and go back until I find runners that look to be a similar ability as me… this time I stopped once I found a good mix of women in their 50’s, and healthy looking 20 and 30 year olds (by healthy I mean… non stick like running bodies but more rounded bit of a belly healthy) and figured I found my niche. I couldn’t’ help but notice the one woman in front of me who was in her 60’s (age on the bib!) she was so cute!! She was decked out in purple and black running gear complete with headband and she had a garmin on her wrist… she was a cute stylish granny I just wanted to put her in my pocket and add her to my collection of grandmothers. Creepy?? Never!
Anyways the director of Southern Arizona Roadrunners gets on the mike and starts thanking everyone for being here, and even tears up when mentioning the Triple crown and how touched he is at the flooding of people signing up for the event. We had a very sad moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives. Then luckily he lightened the mood with a statement reminding him and the rest of us that really this was about being a live, and living life ( I really wish I could remember exactly what he said because it was a great sediment) and then finally the starting gun went off.
Of course I started off WAAYYYY to fast…but I was caught up in the energy of the crowd, and let me say the energy at this race was so different then any other race I have ever done, maybe I just got too sappy with the pre race dedication.. either way I glanced down at my garmin and I am fairly certain it said I was doing a 8:20 mm pace… which is like a 6mm pace for me.. wayyy to fast!! But I was feeling good, the weight in my stomach had disappeared and I didn’t even feel winded… of course my common sense should have taken over and slowed me down but like I said I was just feeling the energy, and it carried me at roughly this pace for a mile… after my garmin rang up the 1 mile mark, my body started slowing down I decided to chill out and enjoy the scenery. Down town Tucson is so beautiful, and of course everyone came out of their houses to cheer us on (and spray us with water hoses!) Outside of one Mexican restaurant there was a mariachi band which prompted me to yell out WEEPPAAAAA in my head and gave me another burst of energy, that I was sure to not waste this time!
But the oversized dinner finally started talking to me, and my stomach started cramping and I got slower and slower.. but the funny thing was despite my slowing down and my garmin reading me at a 12mm pace there were still TONS of people around me, normally I’m alone in races, there are people slower than me but I never seem to end up in a pack of runners this time it was like no matter how slow I got I was still surrounded by people, it was actually comforting, I didn’t feel bad about my pace, I didn’t feel compelled to try to fight my body for quicker steps to catch up to anybody or finish before they closed up the race… it was so invigorating!
Finally my garmin rang off 2 miles, which I thought would never happen because I think my pace had dropped even slower. Now I could tell I was circling back to the starting point.. and the crowd of people watching started to thicken up again, I recognized the Tucson Convention center, and remembered all the monster truck shows we had been to… which helped me find some more comfort from my burbling stomach. I kept telling myself to stop looking at my garmin because I had reached that point where I was really disliking myself for over indulging in dinner.. I kept burping it up (but it still tasted delicious!!) and my pace slowed even more. I tried to keep my head up, relax my shoulders and keep going, but it was hard.
Thankfully there was yet another nice lady out with her hose and a nice lady who had her own personal table and paper cups giving out water to the runners, I could have kissed her! I really needed to wet my whistle and my mini hand held water bottle had run out of water. The few sips of cold water refreshed me and I felt strong(ish) again.
Then came the mental battle… I could see this HUGE building that I knew was right at the finish line… it was super tall and had blacked out glass…I thought to myself that it couldn’t be right, I still had .65 more to go and it seemed like the building was RIGHT there! But it was one of those… so close yet so far moments,, because as I tried to go a little faster since I was sort of in the home stretch, the building didn’t seem to get any closer. I cursed that dumb big building but for some reason I couldn’t get it out of my sights… finally my garmin rang of 3 miles and I knew with only .1 miles left I could try to open my stride and finish strong… which I kind of did, I really don’t think I speed up much faster than a 10:30mm but I was still passing people which is always nice… then I saw the cute purple and black granny in front of me, and as cute as she was I just HAD to pass her, hey it’s a pride thing!! So luckily I found some more energy from somewhere, and I managed to just barley shoot past her and a couple of younger kids and I stumbled into the finishing corral with some burning lungs and an angry belly.
I handed in the tab from my race bib and stumbled around attempting to find vic and the kids… luckily in my haze I remembered there was a park across the road he said he would take the kids to. Of course Vic teased me on my slow pace, I could barely laugh as I struggled to carry Angelo and walk to the car…
I later looked up the results of the race because I was curious to know just how many people were there… I kept scrolling down my screen until it would scroll no more.. and my eyes popped out of my head as I saw there was a total of 1723 finishers in this 5k. No wonder I was surrounded by people no matter how slow I went! 1700 people stretched out over 3.1 miles… ha must have been a site to see from a top!
I didn’t get any race photos this time, pre run or post run thanks to me having a broken cell phone and Vic’s cell phone battery dying… but it’s ok I have plenty of mental images in my mind and that’s what really matters ;)
And I can tell you that if and when I do another night race I will be picking and chosing my pre race dinner a LOT more carefully :)
