06/18/2008 13:16
Race Report – Newton 10K – June 8, 2008
Race stuff - really nice technical t-shirt. A little busy, but that's okay!
In a word, it was HOT! The forecasted high was around 96° as Boston was in the middle of a 4 day heat wave.
Woke up around 6:00 to have breakfast and get ready. We headed to Newton around 7:45 since I had to pick up my race packet. It was already in the 80’s when we arrived in Newton, and the sun was beating down. After I picked up my packet we sat in the car in the air conditioning for a little while. The thought crossed my mind to just leave and head to the grocery store and forget about running the race, but I’m not a quitter – which totally became my mantra for the day. At least I was still smiling in the beginning…
There were only a couple of hundred runners in this race, so I made sure to go all the way to the back of the pack when we were lining up at the start. The race began, and I had run about 20 steps when suddenly there was a bunch-up of people – turns out an older man had taken a header and was bleeding. Jerel said they pulled him out of the race.
Pretty much immediately I was last. There was one guy just a little ahead of me for the first couple of miles, but the heat was just too much for me and eventually I lost sight of him. I could feel my internal body temperature rising as I ran, especially when I was in the direct sunlight. I pushed on for the first couple of miles, but it was way too hot to keep running. So, I walked. I walked a whole lot. I tried to run when I was in the shade, but sometimes even that was too much.
About 4 miles in a couple of volunteers were driving by me and asked if I was okay. I said yes and told them not to wait for me. I had no idea that they would take me literally!
Anyway, after finally getting close to the school where the race began, and having to go through a convoluted last mile of residential neighborhood, I neared the finish. Jerel, my #1 supporter, was there waiting for me, all alone. I didn’t even bother running the last few steps – although, I don’t know if I could of if I tried! I crossed the finish line around 1:31, and from the official race results, about 10 minutes after the last person. However, I’m not even listed in the official race results, so even though I was last, I wasn’t “officially” last. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad!
So, overall the race sucked for me, but I did finish. I’m sure I could have pushed myself harder, but since I knew we were leaving for Vegas in a few days there was no way I wanted to make myself sick from heat exhaustion. I’ll just chalk this one to experience!
I can't say that I wouldn't have taken the "grocery store" way out at 96 degrees! As Kimquilts said...another experience to have in your running arsenal for future reference!