So, I promised a brief recap of Sunday’s race – and I’m not about to let you down! On Saturday afternoon I got into Boston where I was spending the night so I didn’t have to worry about getting to the start line by 7:45. My hotel was an easy walk right to the Boston Commons / Public Gardens so it was logistically really easy. I was really excited to be in Boston on a weekend and I walked around the city for a while. There was quite a thunder storm so I ducked into the Lenox Hotel where I ended up meeting Katherine for dinner.

We both had some amazing braised short rib ravioli. Yes, I’m serious. They were amazing!

After dinner I walked down to the start line of the race where I was happy to see that people were busy setting up for the morning’s events:

I just love the Boston Athletic Association. All of their events are so well organized. After getting some frozen yogurt from JP Licks on Charles Street, I headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

That is sort of where the problems began. I did not sleep well. I woke up at 2 o’clock in the morning and could not go back to sleep for at least an hour. Once I did go back to sleep, it was horrible and I had a nightmare that I was getting ready for a half marathon and I could not find my socks anywhere! What!? Crazy. It was a horrible night’s sleep and I woke up with bags under my eyes. Yikes!

My alarm went off at 6:45 and I woke up and ate half of a Clif bar. This is what I did last Sunday before my last six mile run before this Sunday’s race. I love the BAA 10K. It is a great race. I love the course, and I love that the elite runners are on the same course, at the same time and that the literally pass me (and all of the other runners) on their way back on the course. It is so fun (and amazing) to see people like Geoffrey Mutai and Kim Smith actually running! Wow, I am so impressed by them.

I had a couple of glitches getting ready for the race. I could not find my iPod nano to save my life even though I had made double sure to pack it the day before. I had to leave for the race without my favorite music – not good. Then, moments before the race started my Garmin 610’s screen completely froze on me! I was in a panic. Not only did I not have my music (I settled for carrying my iPhone with me – not what I wanted to do!) now my Garmin (my #1 training tool) was crapping out on me. Thankfully I was able to get it back up and working with some help and encouraging words (much needed). I had decided to run without any water since there were water stops at every mile of the race.

I woke up with stomach cramps and feeling a bit off, too. All of things things were adding up and within the first mile of the race I could tell that today was not going to be my perfect race. I tried not to get upset as I was running – but 1 and a half miles in I was feeling a little light headed. I kept going, I walked a few times and tried not to let the heat get to me. I started taking two waters at every stop.

I told myself at one point that every person has a bad race and I hope this is my worst race and from now on I’ll only have better experiences. I saw EMT people attending to at least one runner who had passed out on the course. The scene broke my heart.

At mile 4 I received a text from my best friend saying he was waiting for me at mile six to take photos (he had finished the race in a PR time)… So thankfully there are photos of me running in the second annual BAA 10K – I really did it 🙂

(Rounding the corner by the Public Gardens)

Thankfully I finished the race, got my medal and had a bagel, a power bar along with Gatorade and water to rehydrate. I even went through the cooling tent that was amazingly refreshing.

After I said good-bye to my best running buddy and his parents, and my sister and her boyfriend I walked over to Starbucks and ordered a 1% iced latte because I had not had coffee yet. The latte tasted so good.

After Starbucks I walked through the Public Gardens and ran into a few lovely people – they work for Larabar and they were giving out LARABARS!!! This made me so happy and I really needed some cheering up at this point. Mini Larabars sure did the trick!

This made me so happy! Thanks for making my day Larabar lovelies!

Ok, so that is about a wrap for the BAA 10K. It is in the books, and there are only bigger and better things ahead! Running is all about the ups and downs, I guess so I am embracing this experience. Today as I was at work I started thinking in my head the things I can do differently next time. Train harder (put some strength training back into my training program??) get back onto a good meal plan for runners, get rest and get up early (remember when I used to get up at the crack of dawn???) and HYDRATE MORE. Also, if it is in the summer, I am going to bring a water bottle on my next race – even though it’s a faux pas. (I don’t care!)

I hope all of you are off to a great start for your week! More coming soon – stay tuned!