Whew! To say I am tired is an understatement. Running the 5k yesterday and then the 10k today has definitely wiped me out more so than I believe last year. I don’t believe I was as hydrated as I needed to be, or really should have been in general. They changed the course from a trail course to complete road, and of course that moved us from being in complete to shade to being in complete sun the entire time. I think mentally going into it I felt like the cards were stacked against me and I let that mess with me mentally too much.
I felt strong the first two miles, but somewhere after the third mile is where things started to unravel for me. I thought I was further along than I was at one point, and was nearly devastated to realize I still technically wasn’t at the halfway point. At mile 4 when I grabbed a cup of water I ended up vomiting a bit of it back up. I think I just sort of drank it wrong and it didn’t settle all too well. First time for everything, but I certainly hope it’s the last!
I definitely walked more than I ever would have liked, but again mentally I was just breaking down. I kept trying to remind myself WHY I was running – for all of those people who have autoimmune disorders with no cures, for those who suffer from chronic diseases with no relief. It helped for short bursts of time, but there were many runners around me who were struggling as well. Walking at times, and one runner was also getting sick as well.
I finished in a time of 53:08, which is great, but unfortunately my watch did not register even close to the 6.2 miles that it should have been. It registered 5.88 miles, and I spoke to a few other runners and their watches registered about the same distance as well. This happened last year as well, and is just frustrating mentally at the end when you are pacing yourself and suddenly the finish is a lot closer than you expected.
In the end, it’s running for a great cause, and to finish up here are the numbers as of around 1pm today, but keep in mind money is still coming in:
Overall Amount Raised by EVERYONE: $181,860
Team Stumbers Amount Raised: $29,312 (#1 Fundraising Community Team)
Personal Amount Raised: $830
Until next year!