PDR Weekend and Race Report

What a fabulous weekend 🙂

Friday- work went so slow I was half expecting time to start going backwards!! Finally 4pm hit and the weekend began.  Unfortunately, I had a viewing to attend but afterward I met up with my friends Monique and Colleen for dinner and the PDR weekend was officially underway!  It was quite exciting because I hadn’t seen my friend Colleen since High School and we all had a lot of catching up to do!  We ate that this amazing Italian place and when I say we ate, I mean we ATE!  I had a huge plate of lasagna with salad and lots of garlic bread.  We hung out at dinner for a few hours eating and catching up and then decided to have a drink and toast to the upcoming race.  Things have been so busy and stressful lately with work and school; it was such a good time and it was so good to laugh like that.

Saturday- we were up and at ’em good and early to head over the expo.  We took the Patco over (fabulous plan, so nice to not worry about parking and all that Philly bs) and while it was a bit chilly, it was a good walk in the city over the Convention Center.  We picked up out packets, bibs and etc., and then spent some time looking around and scoring some free swag.  I walked away with quite a few goodies 🙂 After working up an appetite walking around, we headed over the Chilli’s for lunch.  We love to eat, have you noticed??  From lunch it was back home as we all had individual plans for the afternoon.  I had an End of Summer Luau at my teammates house and once again it was so nice to sit back and relax.  The turn out was small, which was a bummer, but it was gorgeous out and there was great food and good company.  I only stayed a few hours because I had the race; I was home by 7pm and had my bags back and was in bed by 8pm.  I was up a few times in the night (thanks to my jerk neighbor) but for the most part, slept well.

Sunday- Race Day 🙂

Time/Pace: 2:29:45/11:26

Overall: 10,536/12,247

Gender: 5152/6394

Age: 1150/1386

Pre-Race:  woke up feeling rested, went through my morning routine and was ready to go.  Monique and Colleen met me here and we drove over around 6:15am.  Once we got to the race we checked our bags, used the potties and stretched out.  Before we knew it the race was starting so we headed off to our respective corrals.

Race:  the first two miles, as usual, consisted of fighting through all the runners who should have been in corrals behind me.  It was so packed it was hard to move- the first mile was the worst.  On top of the crowd, I was having knee pain almost right from the start.  I knew if I didn’t figure something out, it was going to be a looonnnnggg race.  Right as I hit mile three, I saw a WaWa and made the executive decision to veer off the course and go in- I am sure they thought I was holding the place up…I ran in like a bat out of hell and said “I am in a race and I need an advil, does anyone have one they would be willing to give me” and to my happiness, the lady behind the counter had Motrin and gave them to me.  It took me @ three minutes and I knew I would struggle to make up the time, but I truly believe without it, I might not have finished at all.  So yeah…my PR- I left it in WaWa.  I fought through miles four through seven with some knee pain but was still pacing relatively well with all things considered.  I gave my mom a call (she was following me online) while I took a GU and she updated me on my splits; I knew a PR was going to be really tough so I decided to just bag it and enjoy the run.  I started to notice the pain subsiding when I hung up with my mom (yeah for Motrin!) and ran really well for the next few miles.  And then I fell apart.  Right before mile 11, I started getting cramps in my hamstring, my groin and my calves.  I have never, in all my runs, had this happen.  I stopped, laid down in the grass and stretched out as best I could.  When I started running again I was still sore so I just trotted along- I was probably pacing at close to 12 minutes but I was afraid to push to hard and pull something.  I really wanted to sprint the last mile but my legs were just dead.  I did up my pace but not by much and part of me was ready to crawl over the finish line!  It was the best feeling when I saw that finish line and I was elated when I crossed it!

Post-Race:  I got my medal and my water and then I saw Monique and we headed over to meet her parents.  A few minutes later Colleen met up with us and we spent a few minutes stretching and chatting about the race.  We grabbed our bags and headed out to lunch.

I won’t lie, I was disappointed to miss my PR, but I still feel really good considering.  Had I not stopped at WaWa…had I not stopped to stretch…had I not stopped to take a GU three times…all those factor into my time, but that is part of the race.  All in all it was a really great day and my time is secondary.  The race was well put on, the weather was amazing and best of all, I ran this race with two of my good friends.  We have all followed each other through up and downs, training and various races; it was great to finally race together.  While we didn’t see each other on the course, it was so nice to know they were there.

As of right now, my knee is unhappy.  I took an ice bath and iced my knee…hopefully after some rest and advil and a massage later this week I will be back to new in no time.  I look forward to my recovery run and getting back out on the road!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  If only Monday never had to happen!

On a sad note, I would like to ask for your thoughts- my best friends Aunt passed away early Saturday morning after a long (very long) and courageous battle with cancer.  It is a very sad time for her and her family; please keep them in your thoughts.  Cancer SUCKS!!!!